I’m Barbara
Klein with the VOA Special English Economics
Report.
Recently, a
listener from China asked why the financial
company Standard and Poor’s has a name that
includes the word “poor.” In Chinese
culture, businesses have names that suggest
success and wealth.
In Western
countries, however, businesses often carry the
names of the people who started them. And
that is partly the case with Standard and
Poor’s.
It was formed
when two companies joined together. One was
Poor’s Publishing Company. Henry Varnum Poor
started the company in the eighteen sixties.
He published a number of books on railroads, money
and business. He also published financial
information about companies for investors.
In
nineteen-oh-six, the Standard Statistics Bureau
was formed to provide financial information about
American companies. It recorded numerical
information, or statistics, about
businesses. In nineteen sixteen, the
Standard Statistics Bureau started offering credit
ratings (信用排名)for companies. Ratings are designed
to give investors an idea of how likely it is that
a business will pay its debts. Soon after,
the company offered credit ratings for
nations. It later offered the same service
for local governments.
Poor’s
Publishing Company joined with the Standard
Statistics Bureau in nineteen forty-one to form
Standard and Poor’s. In nineteen sixty-six,
the publishing company McGraw-Hill bought Standard
and Poor’s. Since then, it has grown as an
important provider of information on credit and
business statistics.
Standard and
Poor’s also developed an important measure of the
stock market. The S and P Five Hundred Index
is a list of five hundred companies. The
price of ownership shares of these companies is
combined with other information. Mathematic
operations are used to create a single number that
shows if all stocks on the list have gained or
lost value.
Standard and
Poor’s says the S and P Five Hundred Index is the
best, single measure of the United States stock
market. Only American companies are on
it. They must be financially strong and have
a total stock value of more than four thousand
million dollars. The companies are also
chosen to represent the importance of industries
to the economy.
Standard and
Poor’s remains one of the world’s two leading
credit rating agencies. The other is
Moody’s.
This VOA
Special English Economics Report was written by
Mario Ritter. Our reports are online at
voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Barbara
Klein.
