The impact of rating actions on stock prices in the Italian market

The goal of this thesis is to provide empirical insight into the impact of rating agencies' announcements on stock prices in the Italian market. The study looks at a sample of 330 rating agency announcements concerning Italian issuers from 1995 to 2006. Using the Event Study methodology, it analyzes the stock prices of the companies to determine the existence of any abnormal returns and hence ultimately the impact of rating announcements on the stock market.