Derivative Securities

A few hours after the Rolling Stones announced their first North American tour since 2006, including a date May 28 at the United Center, Mick Jagger called and answered a few quick questions. Q: After the Stones came off the road the last time, did...

Baltimore baseball fans flocked back to Camden Yards and merrily decorated themselves in orange and black as the Orioles authored baseball's most surprising story of 2012. Now, signs abound that the enthusiasm from last fall — when the team...

A legislative committee gave its endorsement today to expanding the method for calculating a state-chartered bank’s loan or credit limit in South Dakota.   The goal is to cover the more-exotic transactions conducted by many banks throughout the...

The Justice Department is accusing Standard & Poor's of defrauding investors with optimistic ratings of mortgage-backed securities and derivatives prior to the financial crisis. While investors are entitled to answers about those conflicts, compensation...

WASHINGTON -- My last column on the federal suit against the bond-rating rating agency Standard & Poor's drew some critical reactions that are worth sharing with readers. In the column, I argued that S&P, which badly erred in rating bonds tied to home...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's suit against the rating agency Standard & Poor's makes for riveting headlines and lousy history. We want to blame the financial crisis and Great Recession on greed and dishonesty. The charge that S&P rigged bond...

Franklin Financial Services Corp. CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — The board of directors of Franklin Financial Services Corp. declared a $0.17 per share regular quarterly dividend for the first quarter of 2013. The first-quarter 2013 cash dividend remains...

Federal and state prosecutors sued the credit rating agency Standard & Poor's this week for allegedly defrauding investors by giving inflated ratings to complex mortgage-backed securities that proved all but worthless after the housing bubble burst. The...

California has filed suit against Wall Street's biggest credit rating agency, Standard & Poor’s, charging the firm with violating the state's False Claims Act by using “magic numbers” and “guesses” to inflate ratings that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is accusing the debt rating agency Standard & Poor's of fraud for giving high ratings to risky mortgage bonds that helped bring about the financial crisis. The government filed a civil complaint late Monday...

WASHINGTON -- Justice Department officials and attorneys general from California and several other states were set Tuesday morning to announce a landmark civil suit against Standard & Poor's Corp. concerning the company's credit ratings of troubled...

WASHINGTON -- Standard & Poor's Corp. helped cause the financial crisis by misleading investors with falsely high credit ratings on bonds backed by toxic subprime mortgages, federal officials alleged Tuesday in announcing a civil suit against the company....