DETROIT, July 8 (UPI) -- U.S. credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service is considering downgrading the debt of General Motors Corp. to junk status.
The cost of escalating incentives, a consumer shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles and falling U.S. marketshare are behind Moody's possible downgrade, WLNS-TV, Lansing, Mich., reported Friday.
GM bonds currently have Moody's lowest investment-grade rating.
The No. 1 carmaker's financing division, GMAC, also is being looked at for a downgrade. GM's ongoing incentive program that offers its employee discount to all consumers might be hard on profits, Moody's said.
Standard & Poor's Corp. and Fitch Ratings already have a junk status rating on GM.
"I don't think it will have a big impact ... because you already have two of the three agencies at junk," said Brian Reynolds, chief market strategist at MS Howells & Co.
