Investors seeking safer bets elsewhere

With increasing speculation that credit ratings agencies will downgrade US sovereign debt, and with the value of a number of European bonds approaching junk status, investors are now casting about for new and safer places to put their money. Johnson & Johnson, maker of Band-Aid plasters, and SMRT, an obscure Singapore transport company, are among the corporations enjoying AAA ratings.

The others are: ExxonMobil Imperial Oil Microsoft back office outsourcing group Automatic Data Processing Koch Financial Products, which leases assets to US government agencies and schools medical research funder the Wellcome Trust agricultural bank Rabobank and Hong Kong transport group MTR.

"What we have seen is a big shift of money into very safe assets," says Luca Paolini at the Credit Suisse global strategy team. "We are not particularly bullish on corporate bonds but if you have a situation like right now in the US and you want to be covered from the risk of default, that's the most obvious place to go."

While five of the G7 nations remain AAA for now, Japan has suffered a series of downgrades, most recently in January, when S&P handed out an AA- rating. Italy ranks even lower, on A , with an outlook recently changed from "stable" to "negative" as jitters about the health of the euro zone mount.

Credit Suisse has produced a list of stocks with a combination of high credit rating and comparatively low debt, which are insured against default through credit default swaps at a cheaper rate than their national governments.

Drugs groups Pfizer and Merck, Marlboro cigarettes firm Philip Morris, Dairylea cheese group Kraft Foods and oil major ConocoPhillips all have a better CDS rate than the American government.

David Page, senior economist at Lloyds Corporate Markets, believes the move to corporate bonds could become an established investment pattern if US Treasuries are downgraded. "It may be the start of a more long-lasting trend as investors search for new areas to place cash," he said.