Politics

As debt ceiling closes in, S&P warns of U.S. credit rating downgrade

Chris Goodnow Contributor
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Standard and Poor’s has reiterated its warning that the U.S. may lose its triple-A credit rating as an agreement to raise the debt ceiling remains stalled in Congress. 

Citing concerns about a lack of “political consensus” in Washington, the head of sovereign credit ratings for Europe at Standard and Poor’s, Moritz Kraemer, hypothesized that there is a “one in three chance the rating might go down in the next few years.”

The story was reported by Reuters’ William James and Emelia Sithole-Matarise.

While the U.S., unlike Euro Zone countries, can engage in active fiscal and monetary policy to help alleviate lenders’ and rating agencies’ worries, gridlocked negotiations and a looming deadline have kept the risk of default alive.