1860

Businessman Henry Varnum Poor aims to create more clarity to help investors understand the emerging railroad industry by publishing History of the Railroads and Canals of the United States.

1896

Reporter Charles Dow, seeing a need to demonstrate the investment potential of the stock market and better project market trends, creates the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Today, the “Dow®” is the most-cited stock market measure.

Learn more about the DJIA

1916

Poor’s Publishing Co. issues its first rating.

What is a credit rating?

1929

Just months before the start of the Great Depression, McGraw-Hill shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Just over 90 years later, through a wide range of economic cycles and market conditions, the fabric of who we are remains intact.

1957

The S&P 500, the world’s most tracked index, is introduced. It is the first computer-generated stock index.

A creation of S&P’s Paul Babson and Lewis Schellbach, today there are approximately $9.2 trillion of global assets indexed or benchmarked to the S&P 500.

Learn more about the S&P 500®

1969

S&P publishes the “CUSIP” Directory,” a universal tracking system for U.S. financial securities.

Today, there are detailed data on about 57 million financial instruments globally and thousands of new identifiers are created every day, helping to ensure that front- and back-office functions of financial institutions run smoothly.

Discover CUSIP Global Services

1987

Reid Nagle, CFO of a savings & loan in New Jersey, recognizes the system for disseminating market information about S&Ls is inefficient. As a result, he founds SNL Financial.

Nagle relocates his company to Charlottesville, Va., in 1992. In 2015, we acquire the financial data and information business and begin integrating it with S&P Capital IQ to form S&P Global Market Intelligence.

1993

Passive investing continues to grow with the creation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. The first, the Standard & Poor’s Depositary Receipts (SPDRs), tracks the S&P 500.

It is now the most-traded equity security in the world.

2011

The McGraw-Hill Companies introduces the Growth and Value Plan to increase shareholder value.

The Plan includes creating two separate, focused and nimble operating companies. This leads to the sale of McGraw-Hill Education in 2013.

2013

The McGraw-Hill Companies is renamed McGraw Hill Financial, following the sale of McGraw-Hill Education.

2018

S&P Global offers state-of-the-art solutions with the acquisitions of Kensho and Panjiva.

With the acquisitions of Kensho, a cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning company, and Panjiva, a leader in essential supply chain intelligence, we're delivering innovative solutions and capabilities that drive actionable insight and bring order to complex data.

Visit Kensho

2020

S&P Global navigates a year of unprecedented challenges.

We provide uninterrupted intelligence to our customers even as the COVID-19 pandemic, renewed calls for social justice, and a heightened focus on sustainability create unprecedented levels of uncertainty.