S&P

First Trust Consumer Staples AlphaDEX (NYSE: FXG) is up more than 20% year to date. The investment seeks results that correspond generally to the price and yield of an equity index called the StrataQuant Consumer Staples Index. Top holdings include Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR),...

Investors in United States government debt could see a loss of up to $100 billion if the the government loses its pristine AAA rating, according to S&P Valuation and Risk Strategies. “If Standard & Poor's or any of the other major rating agencies downgrade the U.S., Treasuries would likely...

Greece received a commitment yesterday from the IMF that it would give its portion of the bailout funds, which would be enough to get Greece through September. U.S. securities regulators are discussing potential civil fraud charges against some of the credit-rating companies, such as S&P,...

As Greece continues to burn, the situation only continues to get worse. Overnight, S&P said it cut ratings on four Greek banks to CCC from B. The banks affected are National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG), EFG Eurobank, Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank. S&P's outlook is negative on the banks.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Greek sovereign debt Monday, frowning on the country's financial outlook in the near- and intermediate-term. S&P downgraded Greece's long-term sovereign credit rating to CCC, or 4 steps away from default. As negotiations continue between the...

Analysts at Standard & Poor's raised their near-term outlook on gold prices by $100 an ounce this past Thursday. S&P expects gold to trade at $1,200 per ounce for the remainder of this year. Price estimations for 2012 were raised from $1,000 to $1,100 per ounce, with 2013 and beyond now...

S&P States That Ratings of Ford (NYSE: F) Should Not Be Affected By Japan Disaster

The price of oil has risen around 30% since mid-February on fears of supply disruptions due to political unrest in the Arab world, as well as the weak dollar. Last week, the New York futures touched a 30-month high of $113.46 a barrel. The price of oil did start to fall recently, however. Crude has...

S&P lowered its outlook on U.S. debt, saying the gridlock in Washington may cause the ratings agency to lower its rating on US debt if nothing is done about the deficit. Seeing as S&P was so right about the ratings in 2008 on any number of products, makes sense they are right now. End...

It is usually Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) doing the downgrading, but the banking giant got a taste of its own medicine this morning as the company was cut from Buy to Neutral by Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove. The price target was also slashed from $188 to $163. The downgrade comes despite...

It seems as if the buy the dip mentality continues to work, as the major market averages are well off their lows. At last check, the Dow was off 130 points, the S&P 500 was lower by 13 points, and the Nasdaq was down 28 points. At their lows of the session, the Dow was off 240 points, the S...

The markets are plunging on the open, as S&P has revised the outlook on U.S. debt to negative. It affirmed the ratings on the debt, but this has sent waves running through the markets. At last check, the Dow was off 179 points, the Nasdaq was off 40 points, and the S&P 500 was off 19...

S&P raises its credit rating on Lear Corp (NYSE: LEA) today to 'BB'.

S&P has said that it could potentially downgrade Belgian debt in the next six months, as the European country has not formed a government in the six months since elections. This threatens its ability to manage its debt. "We believe that Belgium's prolonged domestic political uncertainty poses...

S&P is raising its rating on Micron (NYSE: MU) to B+ from B, S&P said today. In a statement, S&P said, "The rating on Micron reflects our expectation that the memory industry will remain highly volatile and that the company's market presence in DRAM and NAND will remain largely...