Standard & Poor’s

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  U.S. Bank Lending Below Depression-Era Levels: S&P

  By Joyce Hanson, AdvisorOne  |  March 22, 2012

  U.S. bank loans are at such lows that the economic recovery has been nearly loan-free, S&P's head of financial institutions ratings said Wednesday in New York.

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  France Derides Ratings Agencies, Britain

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  December 15, 2011

  Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer struck out at ratings agencies, calling them 'incomprehensible and irrational,' and also slammed Britain as more deeply mired in financial woes than France.

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  S&P Warns on Possible Downgrade of EU, Banks

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  December 8, 2011

  Standard & Poor's, continuing a theme it began earlier this week, said Wednesday that the European Union itself could face the loss of its AAA credit rating, as could large euro zone banks.

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  Top 5 Reasons Why U.S. Bonds Are Still a Good Bet

  By Joyce Hanson, AdvisorOne  |  August 9, 2011

  The United States’ reputation for backing its debt with a “full faith and credit” guarantee was tarnished by the S&P downgrade, but a beneficiary of the negative market sentiment was the very same asset class that caused the selloff in the first place: U.S. Treasuries.

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  S&P’s Sam Stovall: Gridlock in Congress Harms, Not Helps, Stocks

  By Joyce Hanson, AdvisorOne  |  July 29, 2011

  While many people believe that gridlock is good for the stock market, reasoning that Washington would then not get in the way of capitalism, history shows that the opposite is true, says Stovall in a U.S. sector watch for S&P’s Equity Research unit.