Credit Rating, U.s. Debt | featured news

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.

China and other governments have little choice but to keep buying U.S. Treasury debt to store swelling foreign reserves even after Washington’s credit rating was cut by Standard & Poor’s.

Could the U.S. lose its top credit rating even if a deal is reached to raise the debt limit? Market analysts and investors increasingly say yes. The outcome won't be quite as scary as a default, but financial markets would still take a blow. Mortgage rates could rise. States and cities, already strapped, could find it more difficult to borrow. Stocks could lose their gains for the year.