Standard & Poor's, Ratings Agency | featured news

Standard & Poor's ratings agency has downgraded France's credit rating, French television channels reported on Friday, citing a government source.

Standard & Poor's, whose unprecedented downgrade of U.S. debt triggered a worldwide stocks sell-off, is pushing back against a U.S. government proposal that would require credit raters to disclose "significant errors" in how they calculate their ratings.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded the United States' credit rating first time in the history of the ratings.

Standard & Poor's cuts Greece's credit rating, saying eurozone plans to restructure the country's debts would constitute a default.

Standard and Poor's does not think the United States will default on its debt, the rating agency's president Deven Sharma said on Wednesday.

Standard & Poor's reiterated on Thursday it sees a real risk that future U.S. government deficits may meaningfully miss discussed targets and that there is a 50-50 chance the U.S. AAA credit rating could be cut within three months, perhaps as soon as August.

Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on Greece three notches on its expectations of the likelihood of one or more defaults over the next 12 months.

Regulators took new steps Wednesday to overhaul the firms whose rosy credit ratings inspired overconfidence in investments tied to toxic mortgages. The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules meant to improve the system by which such firms as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s assign ratings.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded two of the euro zone's most troubled member states, citing fears that the pair may have to restructure their debt after 2013.