Introduction to S&P Capital IQ
Let me tell you about S&P Capital IQ—it's the research division of S&P Global, which stands as one of the world's largest providers of ratings, data, research, and the S&P Dow Jones Indices. As someone diving into financial tools, you should know that S&P Capital IQ delivers detailed research and analysis on the stock market to all sorts of investing stakeholders.
Key Takeaways
Here's what you need to grasp right away: S&P Capital IQ acts as the research arm of S&P Global, handling research, ratings, and market indices. It started when McGraw-Hill Financial bought Capital IQ in 2004 for over $200 million; McGraw-Hill later rebranded to S&P Global, and Capital IQ became S&P Capital IQ. Today, it processes more than 135 billion data points from various sources to give subscribers actionable intelligence.
Understanding the Origins of Capital IQ
Founded in 1999, Capital IQ began as a provider of software and analytics for the markets. In 2004, publisher McGraw-Hill Financial acquired it for more than $200 million. By 2016, McGraw-Hill rebranded to S&P Global, and Capital IQ followed suit as S&P Capital IQ.
Standard & Poor’s, established in 1941, has become the world’s leading index provider and independent credit rating source. Since the 2004 acquisition, the company has grown into a global entity with operations in more than 20 countries, headquartered in New York City. It has pursued growth through acquisitions like Heale Financial in 2006 for $13 million and ClariFI, Inc. for $87 million in 2007.
How S&P Capital IQ Operates
You access S&P Capital IQ through its web portal, which offers software and data feeds to advisory firms, banks, corporations, investment managers, private equity funds, universities, and others. This setup provides overall market awareness and investment analysis that you can use to shape your strategies.
Each year, S&P Capital IQ collects and analyzes over 135 billion data points to lead in financial services research. The data includes company profiles, executive summaries, financial information, and independent analyst reports.
Diving Deeper into S&P Capital IQ
S&P Capital IQ investigates financial news, market insights, company performance data, and sector-specific information. It provides intelligence on more than 62,000 public companies and 4.4 million private firms. According to its website, it covers financials for 88,000 publicly-listed companies, representing 99% of global market capitalization.
Beyond that, it researches complex investment structures like mutual funds and hedge funds, offering up-to-date performance comparisons, insights, and strategies. This broad approach to market analysis serves investors from large institutional traders to individual investors and financial enthusiasts.
Capital IQ Products and Services
The Capital IQ web portal equips institutional and individual investors with powerful tools for broad market understanding. You get features like market snapshots, industry and sub-industry reviews, surveys, and general economic insights.
Major products include Compustat, Xpressfeed, and Money Market Directories (MMD). These tools offer desktop research, screening, real-time market data, backtesting, portfolio management, financial modeling, and quantitative analysis via web-based and Excel-based applications.
Details on Key Products
- Compustat, a flagship service from Standard & Poor's since 1962, provides financial and statistical market data.
- Xpressfeed serves as a formatting and delivery method for the Compustat database, allowing you to access and interpret real-time market data with your own tools.
- Money Market Directories act as a prospecting tool, delivering comprehensive global insights into foundations, endowments, and similar funding sources.
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