(1) Such as Moody's or Standard and Poor's.

(2) On Wall Street, the Standard and Poor's index was up 3.73 percent.

(3) Standard and Poor's blamed the political fight over the nation's debt.

(4) The recent U.S. debt crisis and Standard and Poor's downgrading of U.S. debt has turned things around for Mr. Shu's gold holdings.

(5) The Standard and Poor's 500 index had its best start of any year since 1998.

(6) The plan involves the Standard and Poor's list of 500 stocks.

(7) Standard and Poor's analyst Alec Young is betting that continuing US growth will keep the rally going into the New Year.

(8) The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 4.42, or 0.4 percent, to 1, 217.11. The Nasdaq composite index fell 8.15, or 0.3 percent, to 2( ), 571.20.

(9) Standard and Poor's told Reuters last week it would waste no time cutting the top-notch U.S. credit rating if Treasury missed a $30 billion debt payment on August 4.

(10) There are two main services providing credit ratings: Moody's, and Standard and Poor's.

(11) The surprise downgrade of Italy's sovereign debt overnight by Standard and Poor's exposes the fatal flaws of pushing through draconian austerity measures on a nation experiencing economic weakness.

(12) Home prices in the U. S. have fallen more than 30% since 2006, according to Standard and Poor's.

(13) Fitch was the second rating agency to warn that it would consider any loss imposed on bondholders as a default after Standard and Poor's said the same earlier this month.

(14) Earnings have stolen the spotlight from broader economic reports this week as 113 of the 500 companies in the Standard and Poor's 500 index report third-quarter results.

(15) "The Fed is not going to see inflation as a threat, so they can keep interest rates low longer," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard and Poor's in New York.

(16) "Those with substantial presence like GM and VW -- their revenues and costs should move in line with local currency," said Standard and Poor's analyst Gregg Lemos-Stein.

(17) Also present were people from credit ratings agencies Fitch, Standard and Poor's and Moody's as well as audit and business consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers.

(18) Earlier this month, another credit rating agency downgraded United States government debt for the first time. Standard and Poor's blamed the political fight over the nation's debt.

(19) Global shares have tumbled after the credit rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded Greek debt to "junk" on Tuesday.

(20) The index is up nearly 14 percent for the year, roughly double the return of the Dow and the broad Standard and Poor's 500 index.