Moody’s strips US of AAA credit rating, citing failure to rein in debt

Moody’s on Friday downgraded its credit rating of the United States by a notch to “AA1” from “AAA”, citing rising debt and interest “that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns”.

“Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs,” Moody’s said.

Moody’s was the last among major ratings agencies to keep a top, AAA rating for US sovereign debt, though it had lowered its outlook in late 2023 due to wider fiscal deficit and higher interest payments.

On Friday, the agency changed its outlook on the US to “stable” from “negative”.

It typically “resolves” an outlook, meaning in case of a negative outlook it either brings it back to stable or goes ahead with a rating downgrade, within 18 to 24 months, so an update to its rating was likely at some point this year.

More to follow …