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.