News Summary: McGraw-Hill readies defense of S&P
News Summary: S&P readies defense against gov't charges that it inflated ratings before crisis
VIGOROUS DEFENSE: Standard & Poor's is prepared to spend years beating back a federal civil lawsuit accusing the company of giving falsely high ratings to mortgage investments that helped trigger the financial crisis, executives said Tuesday.
CALL HIJACKED: The remarks came on a call about the fourth-quarter earnings of McGraw-Hill, S&P's parent company. The company's CEO and its top financial executive shortened their remarks to leave time for the legal discussion.
BIG CHARGE: McGraw-Hill swung to a loss in the three months ended Dec. 31 as its transition to a financial information provider forced it to take a big, one-time charge. Excluding one-time items, the company's net income declined but narrowly beat Wall Street's forecasts.
