Standard & Poor's

Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Greek sovereign debt yet again. Moody's downgrade of Greek debt to "Ca" from the previous rating of "Caa1" makes Greece the lowest rated country in the world covered by the ratings agency. Although the agreement reached by European leaders...

European Union politicians are up in arms over the latest in a series of downgrades of the sovereign debt of troubled EU member states by the United States-based rating agencies Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. The uproar was spurred by the Moody's Investors...

Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to rollover Greece's existing debt held by French banks. The plan could set the stage for a broader European effort to salvage the ongoing crisis in Greece. Yet, the plan rests on credit agencies not cutting Greece's debt to default,...

In what is becoming an all too familiar occurrence, on Wednesday millions of Greeks took part in nationwide strikes, with thousands taking to the streets in protest against further austerity measures. The Greek government says that the new round of austerity measures is needed in order to receive...

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook on China's real-estate development sector. S&P reduced its outlook for the sector to “negative,” revising its earlier stable view. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.

The likelihood that Greece will default on its debts increased yesterday after the Standard & Poor's rating agency gave Greece the lowest credit rating of any country that it covers in the world. This immediately sent Greece's borrowing costs higher as 10-year Greek bonds with yields above 17...

The U.S. dollar index hit a new high on Monday, reaching a level it had not seen in nearly two months. The euro declined most sharply against the dollar, falling roughly 1%. Some economic commentators came to the conclusion that the dollar was down on investors' fears over the debt situation in...

When actively managed ETFs first burst onto the exchange traded products scene a few years ago, they did so with a fair amount of hype, but investors didn't immediately warm to the asset class, showing a preference for the traditional, passively managed exchanged traded fare. Times change and...

Shares of Noble Corporation (NYSE: NE) are currently up 6.5% at $38.25 per share during Wednesday afternoon trading. The rise in the company's stock price was fueled by a decision from Standard & Poor's to add the company to the S&P MidCap 400 index and the S&P 500. Today's trading...

Standard & Poor's announced today that of the approximately 7,000 publicly owned companies that report dividend information to Standard & Poor's, only 35 decreased their dividend payment during the third quarter of 2010 marking a continued, dramatic improvement from the 135 that lowered...

Scott Kessler, an analyst at Standard & Poor's, said on CNBC that he is bullish on Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Visa (NYSE: V). He explained that although some people might think that these stocks are expensive, he believes that they should be bought. Just because the...

Earnings season has started on a good note. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist with Standard & Poor’s shared his views with CNBC about the future direction of the season. He said, “The economically sensitive sectors are expected to see good earnings increases. So far, about 15 percent of...

A big insurance company, which offers home, car and life insurance, is trying for a new beginning after the financial crisis. MetLife (NYSE: MET), the largest life insurer in the US and Mexico, is planning to bounce back by acquiring a unit of AIG (NYSE: AIG), known as ALICO, for $15.5 billion in...

Commercial Real Estate Week in Review-June 13-19 -Interested in a long term investment? It may be the time to get into REITs. -Sunway REIT on track for $522MM IPO. -Kimco Realty (NYSE: KIM) and Big Shopping Centers (NYSE: BIG) enter into a joint venture to purchase $422MM retail...

We are roughly one-third of the way through June and so far the major stock market indexes are all negative month to date despite the rally under way Thursday morning. Taking a step back and examining the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, we find that both are down year to date and...