... of financial assets, the institutions (both public and private) that guarantee the assets, and the asset managers that act as agents for the principals or owners. An asset manager, for example, ... agencies gather and analyze all sorts of pertinent financial and other information, and then use it to provide a rating of the intrinsic value or quality of a security as a convenient way for ... numbers in other groups). By 1995, in contrast, “S&P had 800 analysts and a total staff of 1,200; Moody’s has expanded at a similar rate, to 560 analysts and a total staff of 1,700.”34 The growth...