S&P

Moody's Investment Service downgraded its rating on Japanese government debt by one notch to Aa3 Wednesday, citing the political environment and growing debt burden as contributors to the decision. "Over the past five years, frequent changes in (Japan's) administrations have prevented the...

Stocks in Asia and Europe fell broadly Friday, as investors dumped risky assets amid renewed concerns that the global economy could slip into lower growth or even recession. Asian equities closed much lowed on the session, finishing a difficult week. Japan's Nikkei index fell 2.5%, while Hong Kong...

That's what Standard & Poors has done with its downgrade of U.S. debt, and now the chicken is coming home to roost. Bloomberg is reporting that the Department of Justice is looking into both Moody's Investors Service and S&P over how the ratings agencies rated mortgage-backed securities...

The Securities and Exchange Commission has requested that ratings agency Standard & Poor's disclose which employees knew of its controversial decision to downgrade U.S. debt before it was announced, the Financial Times reported Friday. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Financial...

What was a recession is now starting to look like a full blown depression. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is being sued by AIG (NYSE: AIG) for $10 billion. This is both ironic, hilarious and depressing, as AIG nearly caused the financial crisis in 2008, and could lead to starting another with this...

Piper Jaffray provided color on the financial sector. In a research report published today, the rating agency stressed that the negative impact of S&P's decision will be limited. In the report, Piper Jaffray states, “We believe there exists numerous potential outcomes for our universe of...

The euro recovered against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday as the U.S. debt deal failed to reassure investors that the U.S. debt crisis will be resolved quickly. Presently, the euro added 0.96% to its value against the greenback to stand around $1.4341. At the same time, the European currency is...

The euro continued to slide against major currencies on Tuesday as early optimism about the new Greek bailout evaporates and pressure starts mounting once again on Spain and Italy. At the moment, the euro surrendered 0.26% of its value against the U.S. dollar to stand around $1.4213. At the same...

This morning, S&P again reiterated its call for a U.S. debt downgrade sometime in the next three months. The New York-based ratings agency said that there is a 50% chance it will lower the U.S. credit rating from Aaa, where it has been for 70 years. This comes as worries persist that Congress...

S&P last night came out with a report that it could downgrade U.S. debt even if the debt ceiling is raised. S&P basically came out and said Congress needs to cut $4 trillion from the budget over the next 10 years, or a downgrade is likely. S&P and the other rating agencies are doing...

Standard & Poor's has placed its 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings on the United States of America on CreditWatch with negative implications.

PowerShares S&P SmallCap Health Care (NYSE: PSCH) is up nearly 22% year to date. The investment seeks to replicate the S&P SmallCap 600 Capped Health Care index, which is comprised of common stocks of U.S. health care companies. Top holdings include Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN...