A company that issues an opinion on the level of credit quality and solvency of a company or state, or on the debt issuances made by these entities. With this information, investors can get an idea of the level of default risk from that institution and set a benchmark for the interest rate they would grant the financing. Although there are more than seventy rating agencies in the world, three large New York companies dominate approximately 90% of the market: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch.
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