Politics

Fitch Puts America's AAA Credit Rating Under Review

Over debt ceiling battle

|

Now that the government has shut down and attention is turning to the next phase of Washington's internecine fight, Fitch Ratings has put the government on notice: Its Triple-A rating is at risk.

In a statement, the ratings firm — one of the three main raters along with Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's Ratings — said a formal review of its U.S. rating could be triggered if the debt ceiling is not raised in a "timely manner" before the expected Oct. 17 deadline.

The nuance in that sounds a bit ominous. It has echoes of Standard & Poor's, which downgraded the U.S. even after the debt ceiling was raised in the nick of time in August 2011 because it believed the 11th-hour brinkmanship damaged to the overall perception of America's debt management.