Credit rating agencies have something to tell investors

The debt situation is clearly still getting worse but it is not going bad as quickly as a year ago

Activity in most industries is positively correlated to economic activity, few businesses (like vulture capitalism) have negative correlation. But, industries are more or less sensitive to the business cycle depending on their business. 

Tourism is highly correlated to booms and busts for example. So are advertising, real estate, personal vehicles, etc. Credit rating agencies (CRA) are also among the more correlated. When the business cycle is up, more corporates are looking to be rated because there is more demand for capital.

Hence, business volume expands for CRAs during boom periods.  CRAs are also worth tracking since the upgrades and downgrades