The Standard & Poor's 500 Index is the most watched index in America--if not the world. Whether you're an individual investor looking to make a smart stock purchase, an executive researching corporate competitors, or a job seeker looking for concise and up-to-the-minute overviews of potential employers, you'll find the critical, often hard-to-find information you need in Standard & Poor's 500 Guide, 2009 Edition. Easy to use and packed with market intelligence on all 500 of the companies listed in the S&P 500 Index, this authoritative reference includes:

• Information on the bluest of blue chip stocks, from Abbott Labs and GE to Microsoft and Yahoo!
• Summaries of each company's business activity, sales history, and recent developments
• Earnings and dividends data, with three-year price charts
• Exclusive Standard & Poor's Quality Rankings (from A+ to D)
• New introduction by David M. Blitzer, Ph.D., Managing Director & Chairman of the Index Committee, Standard & Poor’s

In addition, unique at-a-glance charts detail:

• Stocks with A+ Quality Rankings
• Companies with five consecutive years of earnings increases--a key indicator of strong long-term performance!
• Companies with 10 consecutive years of increasing dividends