NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) May 15, 2003--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its ratings, including lowering the long-term corporate credit rating to 'A' from 'A+', on aerospace and defense contractor Boeing Co. and subsidiary Boeing Capital Corp. The ratings are removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed on March 18, 2003. The 'A-1' short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings on Boeing and Boeing Capital were previously affirmed and were not on CreditWatch. The outlook is stable. Combined rated debt for both entities is about $14 billion. "The downgrade reflects weak commercial aerospace intermediate-term business prospects and Boeing's increased and sizable unfunded pension and retiree medical liabilities, partly offset by growing contributions from the company's
