Politico...
Fitch keeps U.S. triple A debt rating
By Jennifer Epstein
8/17/11 

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday reaffirmed its AAA rating for the United States, citing the nation’s “exceptional creditworthiness” and forecasting a stable outlook in the future. 

The ratings agency’s decision to preserve the United States at its top rating level comes after Standard & Poor’s — another of the three major sovereign debt raters — announced less than two weeks ago that it had downgraded U.S. debt to AA+ because of concerns about Washington infighting. 

The AAA rating reflects the fact that the U.S. government’s “exceptional creditworthiness remains intact: its pivotal role in the global financial system and the flexible, diversified and wealthy economy that provides its revenue base,” Fitch said in a statement. “Monetary and exchange rate flexibility further enhances the capacity of the economy to absorb and adjust to ‘shocks.’” 

The third of the major raters, Moody’s, has kept its U.S. rating at AAA but offered a negative outlook because of concerns about the government’s fiscal discipline and the prospects of a deteriorating economic picture. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and other exchanges opened down close to 1 percent after Fitch’s announcement, which came minutes before the opening bell. 

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