In This Issue:

•Back from the Brink: Emerging markets stage a comeback.
•STARS Status: Changes in S&P analysts' STARS rankings for October 23 through October 27.
•Best in Show: These stocks represent high quality by every Standard & Poor's definition.
•Emerging Market Bond Funds: A few bumps in the road are unlikely to stop emerging market bond funds, which can be used as a portfolio diversification tool.
•Master List Stocks Update: Standard Our three supervised Master List groups of stocks, recommended as core holdings for long-term investors, are regularly featured on these two pages. The High-Quality Capital Appreciation Portfolio, highlighted this week, consists mainly of large-cap stocks.
•S&P's Platinum Portfolio: This portfolio offers the best of both worlds: S&P's STARS ranking system, based on fundamental analysis, and Fair Value, S&P's proprietary quantitative model.

Some of the Companies Featured:

Aetna
AGL Resources
Bank of America
Brinker International
Charter Communications
Citigroup
First Marblehead
General Electric
Kimberly-Clark
Lincoln Electric
Merck
NDS Group
Pfizer
Wachovia
Washington Mutual

S&P Information Products

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S&P Industry Surveys
S&P Industry Stock Reports
The Outlook
Search Engine Survey
Pocket Guides
Power Picks

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Standard & Poor's is one of the world's preeminent providers of credit ratings, and for such globally recognized financial-market indices as the S&P 500®. S&P also provides a wide range of other products and services designed to help individuals and institutions around the world make better-informed financial decisions with greater confidence.