I would expect a retailer’s credit quality always to be taken into account when a firm is lending money against that retailer’s receivables. If a vendor is owed the money by Wal-Mart that is very different than if a vendor is owed the money by [bankrupt] Linens N Things, for example.
GimmeCredit analyst Carol Levenson • Describing how Wal-Mart’s new policy, which allows suppliers to get credit on the back of the company’s very strong credit rating, is genius. Obviously, not every supplier can count on retailers to bail them out like this. But many are in a position to do the same thing, including Target, Kohl’s, TJX Cos. (the parent of TJMaxx, Marshall’s and other similar stores), Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walgreens. Considering that suppliers are likely in the tank in this economy, this could save them. • source
-8.3%decline in local and state spending during the fourth quarter of 2008 – the height of the economic decline. The first quarter of 2009 also saw declines source