Correction: South Financial Ratings Story

In an Aug. 24 story about Fitch Ratings downgrading credit ratings for South Financial Group Inc., The Associated Press reported erroneously the significance of one of the ratings. Under Fitch's bank individual ratings scale, a 'D' rating is the fourth lowest among six levels, not the lowest. It signifies that a bank has weaknesses, but not that it has defaulted on its obligations.

A corrected version of the story appears below.

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CHICAGO (AP) — Fitch Ratings on Monday cut its issuer default rating for The South Financial Group Inc. and its Carolina First Bank subsidiary further into junk territory, citing continuing credit losses and economic stress in Southern markets.

Shares of South Financial fell 17 cents, or about 8.6 percent, to $1.82 in afternoon trading.

Fitch cut the long-term issuer default ratings for the bank holding company and Carolina First to 'B+' from the previous rating of 'BB+', Fitch's highest non-investment grade rating.

Fitch also cut its individual rating for Greenville, S.C.-based South Financial and Carolina First to 'D' — Fitch's fourth-lowest among six levels on its individual bank rating scale, signifying a bank that has weaknesses — from 'C/D'.