What does "Standards & Poor" mean?

[LuckySevens]

The name of this particular share trading market, is there any reason why its called Standard & Poors?

[mittu]

From the S&P website:

A merger in 1941 of Standard Statistics and Poor’s Publishing Company traces its roots to 1860 when Henry Varnum Poor published his History of Railroads and Canals of the United States. Mr. Poor was a leader in establishing the financial information industry on the principle of “the investor’s right to know.” Today, more than 140 years later, Standard & Poor’s is the pre-eminent global provider of independent highly valued investment data, valuation, analysis and opinions and is still delivering on that original mission.

A simple merger between two companies it would seem

[friedo]

@LuckySevens

The name of this particular share trading market, is there any reason why its called Standard & Poors?

mittu provided the history of the S&P name, but it should be noted that S&P is not a market of any type. What they do is provide data about markets of various kinds. One of their most widely cited figures is the S&P 500, an index of 500 of the largest publically traded corporations.

They also own The Wall Street Journal.

[postcards]

@friedo

They also own The Wall Street Journal.

No, TWSJ is owned by the Dow Jones company.

[manhattan]

The Wall Street Journal is owned by Dow Jones. Standard and Poor’s is owned by McGraw-Hill.

[friedo]

@postcards

No, TWSJ is owned by the Dow Jones company.

Doh! I got my “popular stock index people who own newspapers” mixed up. :smack: