Financial markets are hypersensitive to sovereign-debt quality in the wake of Greece's troubles.
In March, a Daimler executive, Rolf Eckrodt, took charge at Mitsubishi, which has been stymied by debt and quality issues.
Each is judged by a scorecard, on which factors like pretax income, employee turnover, occupancy, bad debt and quality of care are measured.
Shareholders withdrew tens of billions of dollars from so-called prime funds, which own commercial paper and other very short-term debt whose quality, in less frantic conditions, is not much below government debt.
In choosing the better REIT stocks, Mr. Harris said he looks at a company's balance sheet, particularly at the level of debt; the quality of its portfolio, especially property location; the dividend history; management experience; and the development pipeline.
Thrift rewards low-debt, high-quality securities, backed by thoughtful managements and issuers.
Demand for quality debt in the United States has pushed the iBoxx investment-grade bond price index up more than 11percentt since the beginning of the second quarter.
The premier foreign creditors of a debt-ridden United States are China and Japan, and Chinese officials have expressed worries about the sustainability of the American addiction to debt and the quality of China's dollar holdings.
Their consultation suggested including measures of worklessness, debt, access to quality education, parental skill level and parental health.
