Fitch downgraded the United States government credit rating from AAA to AA+. Photograph: Shutterstockfrom AAA to AA+. Should investors care? Many prominent economists – treasury secretary Janet Yellen, Larry Summers, Paul Krugman, Allianz’s Mohamed El-Erian, among others – were scathing about Fitch’s decision.
However, the mood was more irritated than concerned. This year is not 2011, when S&P became the first credit ratings agency to strip the US of its AAA rating. Stocks promptly sank, but indices were tumbling even before S&P’s downgrade, during what was a turbulent time for the global economy. 2011 was a bearish environment for stocks; 2023 is anything but.Fitch, as Wells Fargo notes, is a “distant third” to the main ratings agencies, S&P and Moody’s.