The bank said it remained comfortable with credit quality for 2001 and was conducting business as usual.

For one thing, the improvement in credit quality is spotty.

But analysts warn that there is also an issue to worry about: credit quality.

The allocation is based on his 12-month forecast of credit quality.

It also makes sense to gauge a fund's credit quality.

In an examination last fall, however, the government found the company's credit quality was far worse than it had claimed.

Most of the banks in the S.& P. 500 have had very little problem with credit quality.

The general level of credit quality is going down, and there are land mines everywhere.

Before the Fed can cut rates, he said, it must weigh the decline in credit quality against the need to get the market moving again.

They also said the eforts of the bank to clean up its credit quality had been effective.