Excerpts: S&P Says 50-50 Chance Of Downgrading US To 'AA' -1
WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following is the first part of excerpts from a report published by Standard & Poor's Thursday with its views on the potential effects of each on the financial services industry, corporate borrowers, structured finance, public finance borrowers, as well as economies and markets around the world from the U.S. debt impasse:
In our view, the need for an agreement to raise the debt ceiling before it is breached -- which the government has said would occur on or around Aug. 2 -- remains a major risk to the U.S. economy, in our view. Because we see a real risk that efforts to reduce future deficits may meaningfully miss the targets that Congressional leaders and the White House have discussed, we put the likelihood that we would lower the long-term rating on the U.S. within the next three months and potentially as soon as early August -- by one or more notches, into the 'AA' category -- at about 50-50.
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