Key Highlights

  • S&P Global reported second-quarter Revenue of $4.15bn, up 10%, and completed the spin-off of its Mobility division into a separately listed company on 1 July 2026.
  • Moody's Corporation reported revenue up 15% to $2.19bn, with Moody's Investors Service revenue jumping 25% as bond issuance stayed heavy.
  • MSCI reported Operating Revenue of $867.0m, up 12.2%, with asset-based fees jumping 26.6% to $233.1m on record exchange-traded-fund Assets linked to its indices.

Financial information has quietly become one of the S&P 500's most profitable products. Three constituents, S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI), Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) and MSCI (NYSE:MSCI), all in the financials sector, sell the ratings, data, analytics and indices that the rest of the market relies on to price risk and allocate capital. Their appeal lies in recurring, subscription-heavy revenue and formidable pricing power. Results for the quarter to 30 June 2026 showed all three growing comfortably, but they also revealed how differently each is exposed to Credit markets, index-linked assets and the current enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI): Breadth After a Spin-Off

S&P Global, the largest of the three, reported second-quarter revenue of $4.15bn, up 10%, with pro forma adjusted diluted Earnings of $4.83 per share, up 23%. The quarter was notable for structural change: on 1 July 2026 the company completed the spin-off of its Mobility division into a separately listed firm, Mobility Global (NYSE:MBGL), sharpening its focus on ratings, data and indices. Ratings revenue rose 17% to $1.34bn, Market Intelligence 6% to $1.29bn, its energy-focused Commodity Insights arm 2% to $568m and its Indices business, which owns the S&P 500 Brand itself, grew 20% to $534m. That last line is a neat reminder that S&P Global earns fees from the very benchmark these articles discuss.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO): Leveraged to Credit and Analytics

Moody's Corporation delivered what it called exceptional results, with revenue up 15% to $2.19bn and adjusted diluted earnings of $4.68 per share, up 31%. Its two engines pulled in tandem. Moody's Investors Service, the credit-ratings business, saw revenue jump 25% as bond issuance stayed heavy and transaction revenue surged 34%; Moody's Analytics grew organic revenue 8%, with annualised Recurring Revenue reaching about $3.7bn. The split matters. Ratings is cyclical, rising and falling with Debt issuance and refinancing waves, while Analytics is a steadier subscription business. Profitability also improved sharply: the Investors Service adjusted Operating Margin reached 68.3%, up more than four percentage points, underlining how operationally geared the ratings Business is to a busy issuance cycle.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI): Indices and the ETF Flywheel

MSCI is the most specialised, built on Investment indices, analytics and sustainability tools. It reported operating revenue of $867.0m for the quarter, up 12.2%, with adjusted earnings of $4.94 per share, up 18.5%. Recurring subscription revenue rose 9.0% to $613.4m, while asset-based fees, earned on funds that track MSCI benchmarks, jumped 26.6% to $233.1m on record exchange-traded-fund assets linked to its indices. Its retention rate improved to 95.3%. MSCI's model is a flywheel: rising markets and ETF inflows lift asset-based fees, which in turn fund product development. That gearing to market levels is a strength in rallies but a clear vulnerability in downturns, because a fall in benchmark values would drag asset-based fees down even if subscriptions held firm.

How the Theme Differs

The three are often bracketed together, yet their sensitivities diverge. S&P Global spans ratings, data and indices; Moody's is more concentrated on credit issuance; MSCI is levered to index-linked assets and fund flows. Shared risks include a sharp slowdown in bond issuance, pressure on asset-management fees feeding through to index licensing, and regulatory scrutiny of ratings and sustainability products. All three also face the open question of whether artificial-intelligence tools will expand their data franchises or eventually erode them.

What to Monitor

Watch bond-issuance trends for the ratings arms of Moody's and S&P Global; exchange-traded-fund and indexed-fund assets for the index fees at MSCI and S&P Global; and subscription retention and recurring-revenue growth across all three.