S&P's Special Reports: Top 10 Recent Stock-Boosting Initiatives
In This Issue: Top 10 Recent Stock-Boosting Initiatives: As Shareholders Gain, Creditors Often Lose: Over the past few years, institutional investors dissatisfied with the stock price or day-to-day management of the companies in which they invest have increasingly sought to bolster shareholder returns. Their voices are being heard. Whether responding to the pressure of private equity groups, dissident shareholder slates of directors, or unhappy money manage...
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S&P's Special Reports: REITs, CMBS Set The Trend In Asian Real Estate
In This Issue: Emerging Trends In Asian Real Estate: Standard & Poor's is seeing significant changes in Asia's real estate markets due to the emergence of real estate investment trusts (REITs), growing urbanization, the increasing presence of foreign institutional investors, and the opening-up of the real estate sector in China. Asia is home to half the world's population, but real estate ownership per capita is among the lowest globally.
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S&P's Special Reports: A Long, Slow Drive Away From Oil
In This Issue: A Long, Slow Drive Away From Oil: In an energy climate so full of surprises, it is especially difficult to fathom when fear of a world without oil will light a flame under demand for alternative fuels or what the spark will be. To answer that question, Standard & Poor's needs to know how high oil prices will go-and by when. Middle East uncertainties make that almost impossible to predict, especially in the short run. But we can at least t...
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S&P's Special Reports: Gaming And Lodging
In This Issue: Hotels And Gaming:Will The Economy Keep Dealing Them Winning Hands?: It is a fact of life as seemingly immutable as death, taxes, and global warming: As the consumer goes, so goes the hotel and gaming business. In recent years, solid economic fundamentals have supported steady growth in both industries, whose fortunes are driven primarily by levels of disposable income, plus consumer and business confidence. Even the Katrina-related deteriora...
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S&P's Special Reports: Insurance
U.S. Life Sector: Near-Term Rewards And Long-Term Risks: Higher interest rates, coupled with moderately positive equity-market movements, create the potential for double-digit increases in operating profits-admittedly from a fairly low base.
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S&P's Special Reports: Pension Storm Clouds Gather
In This Issue: The Pension Storm Bearing Down On The Markets: Standard & Poor's currently estimates that corporate pension plans are underfunded by about $140 billion-with other postretirement employee benefits underfunded by more than twice that amount-and state pension funds underfunded by $284 billion. These shortfalls are dwarfed by federal underfunding. Social Security has a $4.6 trillion shortfall, and federal civilian and military employee progra...
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S&P's Special Reports: Sub-Saharan Africa Enters A Post-Debt Relief Phase
In This Issue: Filling The Funding Gap For African Sovereigns After Debt Relief: Under the heavily indebted poor countries initiative and associated IMF economic programs, the debt forgiveness has been largely accompanied by political and macroeconomic stabilization, increased success on structural reform, improved governance standards, and sound economic policies.
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S&P's Special Reports: For Carmakers, No Easy Drive To Growth
In This Issue: For Carmakers, No Easy Drive To Growth: Auto markets in industrialized countries are maturing, and as a result, car sales there are-and will continue to be-essentially stagnant. Thus in the U.S. and Europe, winners and losers henceforth will be decided by who can squeeze out the largest market share, while trading buyers up to more expensive models, as well as who can cope with the challenge of rising energy costs.
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S&P's Special Reports: China's Top 50 Banks
In This Issue: Study Of China's Top 50 Banks Finds A Polarized Sector Ripe For Consolidation: Few should be unfamiliar with China's large state-owned commercial banks, some of which are now among the largest financial institutions in the world. In recent years, these banks have attracted foreign investments by the tens of billions of dollars, as well as substantial strategic stakes taken by global institutions.
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S&P's Special Reports: Asian Banks
In This Issue: 2006 Fire Dog Year Shines Brightly For Asian Banks: A confluence of favorable environmental and operational factors indicate that the outlook for Asian banks remains bright going into 2006-year of the Fire Dog in the Chinese lunar calendar. Nevertheless, bank management teams still need to sink their teeth into outstanding issues to prepare for unexpected shocks and the inevitable future cyclical downturn. Still-strong (albeit slowing) region...
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