business - "credit"

QUEENSLAND bank and insurer Suncorp has cut its annual profit forecast in half because of bad weather and the credit crunch.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Moody's Investors Service on Thursday revised Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s outlook to negative from stable and affirmed its A2 long-term and Prime-1 short-term ratings after the pharmaceutical company offered to buy ImClone Systems for $4.5 billion. 'The proposed ImClone acquisition would nicely strengthen Bristol's oncology platform. However, cushion in Bristol's current credit rating to pursue additional biotech investments is slim,' said Michael Levesque, Moody's senior vice president. Moody's believes Bristol-Myers' ongoing strategic shift away from stable and profitable medical products towards more specialized biotech products and the approaching U.S. patent expiration of Plavix in November 2011 are factors that raises the company's credit risk profit. market pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Thursday affirmed its commercial paper rating for Moody's Corp. and removed it from a credit watch.

The European Commission proposed new measures Thursday for supervising credit rating agencies, which have been blamed for contributing to world financial turmoil.

Questionable credit card company practices have been dogging consumers for years. But a credit Card Bill of Rights is working its way to congress. Here are the details.

Credit rating firms could be banned or prosecuted under draft EU law aimed at making them more accountable.

APACS, the UK payments association, has launched its latest report into transparency and responsibility in the credit card industry. 'Sharing Best Practice', details the steps the industry has

It was a year ago August that the real estate slump turned into a global economic disaster—and it's still growing

SUNCORP warned today its full-year profit would nearly halve due to the global credit crunch, storm claims and equity market losses.

RATINGS agency Moody's Investors Service today downgraded its outlook on National Australia Bank's credit rating to negative, from stable.