Purpose: Bond or debt securities pay a stated rate of interest. This rate of interest is dependent on the risk associated with the investment. Moody's Investment Service provides ratings for companies that issue debt securities.

Address: www.moodys.com/ (or go to www.wiley.com/college/kimmel)

Steps: From Moody's homepage, choose About Moody’s.

Instructions Answer the following questions.

(a) In what year did Moody's introduce the first bond rating? (See Moody’s History.)

(b) What is the total amount of debt securities that Moody's analysts “track”? (See An Introduction.)

(c) What characteristics must debt ratings have in order to be useful to the capital markets? (See Understand Risk: The Truth About Credit Ratings.)