Finance

Recent bond ratings for the 50 state governments and the city governments of most of the largest cities in the U.S. may be found on the Statistical Abstract of the United States (1990-2012).  The latest edition of Statistical Abstract of the United States is available at Rutgers Libraries web site.

Daily bond prices (as well as information on some historical transactions) and bond ratings from all three major rating agencies for municipal, government, and corporate bonds may be found by using the Bonds - Advanced Search on the Market Data Center of FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

You can also search the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) website for ratings of municipal securities from Fitch and S&P. For Moody's ratings, search MunicipalBonds.com.

Much more detail is available in the MSRB Fact Book from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

The Treasury International Capital System provies information on transactions and holdings of U.S. and foreign short-term and long-term securities by U.S. and foreign holders, much of it on a monthly basis.

The Mergent Bond Record (DANA Business Reference) and its competitor, the monthly Standard & Poor's Bond Guide, (DANA Index Table F), provide corporate debt ratings and information on specific debt issues. However, the most recent information from Mergent will be found on the Mergent Online database. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

Use Mergent Online to see if there are any detailed bond profiles for your company - look under Company Details, Long Term Debt.

Yields for corporate Aaa and Baa rated bonds may be found in the Statistical Abstract of the United States.  Enter search terms "bond yields" in the Statistical Abstract of the United States to see the Table of Bond Yields.

Current bond prices and bond ratings from the three major agencies may be found by using the Bonds - Advanced Search on the Market Data Center of FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

You can read the credit ratings definitions from Moody's Investors Service (registration required) or see a summary table of Bond Rating Definitions from BondsOnline for the three major rating agencies.

Press release coverage of Moody’s credit rating actions is available by registering with Moody's Academic Program.

You can refer to the Blue Pages in the old Moody's Manuals, (DANA HG stacks) which are very detailed. The new Mergent Manuals do not have the blue pages, unfortunately. For yields by selected rating groups (Aaa and Baa only), refer to Selected Interest Rates from the Federal Reserve Board. Scroll down to the middle of the page to find the links for daily, weekly, monthly, and annual data.