U.S. Sovereign Debt Rating Is Affirmed by Fitch at AAA; Outlook Is Stable

By Will Daley - Aug 16, 2011 9:21 PM GMT+0800


Fitch Ratings affirmed its AAA credit rating on the U.S. and said the outlook on the long-term ratings is stable.

Standard & Poor’s on Aug. 5 cut the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from AAA, saying lawmakers failed to cut spending enough to reduce record deficits. S&P dropped the ranking after warning on July 14 that it would reduce the rating in the absence of a “credible” plan to lower deficits even if the nation’s debt limit was lifted.

Fitch said Aug. 2 that the U.S. is under review as the nation’s debt burden increases at a pace that isn’t consistent with an AAA sovereign credit rating.

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed the U.S.’s top Aaa ranking on Aug. 8 in part because the dollar’s status as the main reserve currency allows it to support higher debt levels than other countries. Lawmakers’ agreement on Aug. 2 put in place a plan to enforce $2.4 trillion in spending reductions over the next 10 years was a “positive step” toward addressing the nation’s record deficits, Steven Hess, the senior credit officer at Moody’s in New York, said Aug. 8 in a telephone interview.