Triple-A Rating | featured news

Standard & Poor's head of France said on Thursday that the agency was confident of maintaining France's AAA credit rating unchanged with a stable outlook.

Fitch Ratings said Tuesday it will keep its rating on U.S. debt at the highest grade, AAA, and issued a "stable" outlook, meaning it expects the rating to stay there.

France and Britain are most vulnerable within Europe to a rating review following the U.S. downgrade, with anemic growth and hefty borrowing placing them among the shakiest of the world's triple-A rated lenders.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded the United States' credit rating first time in the history of the ratings.

The United States had its triple-A rating confirmed by two key ratings agencies on Tuesday after Washington struck a last-minute deal to avoid a debt default, but threats of future downgrades remain.

Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday the agreement to raise the borrowing capacity of the United States means the risk of a sovereign default is "extremely low" and commensurate with a AAA rating.

Standard & Poor's reiterated on Thursday it sees a real risk that future U.S. government deficits may meaningfully miss discussed targets and that there is a 50-50 chance the U.S. AAA credit rating could be cut within three months, perhaps as soon as August.

The spot price of gold set fresh intraday records after Moody's put its long-standing triple-A rating of U.S. Treasurys on review, triggering fresh buying of the yellow metal and prompting bulls to eye a break above $1,600 a troy ounce.