Standard & Poor's

According to an article on the Wall Street Journal by Marc Gongloff, the financial-overhaul bill that passed last week will bring large banks on the brink of major credit-ratings downgrades. The downgrade can “sock them with billions of dollars in additional financing costs.” Banks that are "too...

The iShares MSCI Spain Index (NYSE: EWP) is the worst performing ETF among European exchange traded funds in 2010. EWP has lost roughly 20% since the beginning of the year and was recently dealt another crushing blow as S&P recently downgraded the nation’s debt from one level to “AA” with a...

Alec Young, equity strategist at Standard & Poor’s, is bearish on defensive sector. Talking with CNBC, Young said that he likes technology and industrials. He said, “We’ve been overweight all year. One of the issues that’s helping the cyclical, whether it’s retailers, discretionary,...

Standard & Poor's announced on Monday that Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE: HP) would replace IMS Health, Inc. (NYSE: RX) in the S&P 500 index. Standard & Poor's is making the move because IMS Health is being purchased by affiliates of TPG Capital LP and the Canada Pension Plan...

Standard & Poor's announced on Wednesday that the credit rating agency was raising its corporate credit rating of Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE: OI) from BB to BB+. S&P credit analyst Cynthia Werneth said that Standard & Poor's raised Owens-Illinois's credit rating because she expected a...

Standard & Poor's announced on Wednesday that it lowered its corporate credit rating of Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) from A- to BBB due to Kraft's planned takeover of Cadbury plc (NYSE: CBY). However, Standard & Poor's also said that the outlook for both companies is good and that it...

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MHP) announced Tuesday that a federal judge had dismissed the company from a lawsuit related to mortgage backed securities issued by Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. The lawsuit related to more than $93 billion of mortgage-backed securities that Lehman issued over...