NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 19, 2003--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today completed its review of the home improvement sector. As a result, the outlooks for both Home Depot Inc. and Lowe's Cos. Inc. were revised. The outlook on Home Depot was revised to stable from negative, while the outlook on Lowe's was revised to positive from stable. "The outlook revisions reflect a continued favorable outlook for the sector and strong sales performance by both companies in the third quarter of 2003," said credit analyst Patrick Jeffrey. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed the 'AA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term corporate credit ratings for Home Depot, as well as the 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term corporate credit ratings
