Essay about Standard & Poor's

Submitted By watermarkgirl
Words: 771
Pages: 4

Standard & Poor’s Standard & Poor’s is a financial services company. It is a leading provider of financial market intelligence and the world’s foremost source of credit ratings, indices, investment research, risk evaluation and data. They also provide financial decision-makers with the intelligence they need to feel confident about their invest decisions. The products and services it provides is credit rating, equity research, S&P indices, funds ratings, risk solutions, governance services, evaluations, and data services. Standard & Poor’s serves institutional professionals, financial institutions, corporations, financial advisors, and individual investors worldwide. It is a division of McGraw-Hill that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks and bonds. Standard & Poor’s is well known for the stock market indexes, the US-based S&P 500, the Australian S&P/ASX 200, the Canadian S&P/TSX, the Italian S&P/MIB, and India’s S&P CNX Nifty. In 1860 Standard & Poor’s traced its origins to the publication of Henry Varnum Poor’s History of Railroads and Canals in the United States. This was the first major attempt to compile a comprehensive account of both the financial and operational details of U.S. railroads, the largest and most capital-intense industry in the U.S. In 1868 the Manual of the Railroads of the United States was published. Within a few months, they sold all 2,500 copes of the first issue. The manual was updated annually with keeping investors current and allowing them to chart a companies progress of the years. The Standard Statistics Bureau was formed to provide previously unavailable financial information on U.S. companies in 1906 by Lee Blake to provide financial information on non-railroad companies. Standard Statistics merged with Poor’s Publishing forming Standard & Poor’s corporation in 1941. The first president was Clayton A. Penhale. A new Bond Guide was published that carried a list of about 7,000 municipal bond ratings. It was primarily devoted to statistics and quality rating for corporate bonds. In 1942 World War II caused difficulties in maintaining manpower and obtaining paper. Standard & Poor’s managed to grow in terms of revenue and number of employees from the low levels of the post-depression years despite these difficulties. Direct mailing was explored and it greatly expanded the subscriber base for Standard & Poor’s and it also helped sell other services offered by Standard & Poor’s. The volume of Standard & Poor’s combined subscription business passed the $ 5 million mark in 1950. This number doubled over the next nine years. In 1966 McGraw-Hill companies acquired Standard & Poor’s, which expanded McGraw-Hill into the field of financial information services. The committee for Uniform Security Identification Procedures (CUSIP) numbering system was published in 1969. This became the standard identifier for all securities. Without CUSIP it would be impossible for Wall Street to handle enormous trading volume that occurs daily. Standard & Poor’s began charging issuers for corporate ratings in 1974. The Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) by the SEC designated Standard & Poor’s in 1976. This resulted in the Commission recognizing