However, the improvement in the company's finances was marred by sharp deterioration in the quality of its service.

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The downgrades were not really a reflection of recent deterioration in issuer quality.

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Higher temperatures, of course, create greater demand for air conditioning, which requires higher energy consumption and a deterioration in air quality.

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Raising the minimum wage by 20% would do them a great disservice and further contribute to the deterioration in the quality of our labor force.

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And Pandit has to brace Citi for the looming deterioration in loan quality, which is spreading from mortgages into credit cards and other types of consumer loans.

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That tightening reflects a deterioration in credit quality.

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Citi faces a fourth quarter filled with uncertainty about the value of its remaining mortgage-derivative holdings, related short-term debt conduits and the possibility of further deterioration in consumer credit quality.

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An analyst at Lehman Brothers tells Forbes Global that RBS has the largest exposure to corporate risk in the U.K. and that everyone is carefully watching for signs of deterioration in the bank's credit quality, now that the previously strong U.K. economy worsens under the weight of rising taxes and a manufacturing meltdown.

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As a result of this deterioration in loan performance, investors have increased their scrutiny of the credit quality of securitized mortgages, and lenders in turn are evidently tightening the terms and standards applied in the subprime mortgage market.

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