Like Moody's but unlike Standard & Poor's, Fitch kept Ford at an investment-grade rating, saying the company's liquidity remains very healthy and could be enhanced if it sold its Hertz rental car unit. S&P cut Ford and General Motors ( GM ) to junk on May 5. Ford's cash resources "provide more than sufficient resources to reinvest in its auto operations and absorb costs related to the pending Visteon restructuring. Fitch views it as unlikely that Ford would be downgraded to non-investment-grade in 2005," the agency said. Ford's stock was recently up a nickel to $9.97. Thursday's rating move is significant to Ford because of a vagary related to a bond market benchmark. Lehman Brothers is in the process of adding Fitch's ratings to Moody's, and S&P is determining whether corporate debt belongs in its investment-grade or junk indices.