You don't understand the legal structures here. Of course there are rules, but there's no competitive barrier to entry to the stock analysis business. There are thousands of companies that provide stock research, but only a handful of official bond ratings companies. And there's an entire legal and regulatory structure around bonds and bond ratings, which does not exist around equities, and which connect bond ratings to the US banking, pension, and insurance systems. Here's a good overview of the debate on ratings agency reform: http://www.sec.gov/rules/concept/33-8236.htm