Standard and Poor's Ratings Services

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  S&P Downgrades French Banks

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  January 24, 2012

  Standard & Poor's downgraded four French banks on Monday, saying that its action came as a result of its downgrade of France itself earlier in the month.

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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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  Four Strong Companies With Stable Dividends Might Beat Treasuries

  By John Sullivan, AdvisorOne  |  November 28, 2011

  Slipping quality, miniscule returns—emerging market banana republic? Actually, U.S. Treasury bonds.

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  Dividend Trouble

  By Alexei Bayer  |  November 23, 2011

  In the third quarter, an unusual situation arose in U.S. financial markets: dividend yield on stocks surpassed the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury bond. While some technical analysts saw this as a strong “buy” signal, and the market did subsequently rally, the real explanation is probably far less favorable...

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  A Holiday From Histrionics

  By John Sullivan, AdvisorOne  |  September 26, 2011

  McGraw-Hill, parent to Standard & Poor’s, announced on Monday that it received a Wells notice from the SEC related to S&P’s rating of a collateralized debt obligation from 2007 (yes, 2007).

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  U.S. Investigating Standard & Poor's Mortgage Ratings

  By Robert Bloink, Esq., LL.M., William H. Byrnes, Esq.  |  September 1, 2011

  The Justice Department is investigating S&P’s ratings of mortgage securities in the lead up to the mortgage crisis.

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  Wealth Transfer Implications of U.S. Debt Downgrade

  By Gregory Monday, Wendy Rusch  |  August 17, 2011

  An increase is possible in safe-harbor interest rates for intra-family debt transactions

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  If Volatile Markets Persist, Pension Funds May Flee to Bonds

  By Melanie Waddell, AdvisorOne  |  August 16, 2011

  If markets continue to be volatile post S&P's downgrade of U.S. debt to Double-A+, pension funds will attempt to “minimize their losses and buy bonds,” says Brett Goldstein, president of The Pension Department.

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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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  Market Update: Stocks Weak, Panic in Metals, More Downgrades

  By Ben Warwick, Quantitative Equity Strategies  |  August 8, 2011

  After a sharp stock sell-off, gold was now trading on par with platinum.