Fitch Ratings, Ratings Agency | featured news

Fitch credit ratings agency downgrades the UK to AA+ owing to a weakened economic outlook, but Chancellor George Osborne defends his austerity plan.

Fitch Ratings warned on Thursday that it might downgrade the credit rating of China within two years and there was a greater than even chance of a downgrade of Japan's credit status.

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.

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.

The United States probably wouldn't be able to maintain its prized AAA sovereign ratings status if it suffered even a "technical" default on its debt, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday.

Ratings agency Fitch on Friday cut its outlook on Japan's sovereign debt, warning that the vast cost of a March earthquake and tsunami and the still-unknown bill for the clean-up after the nuclear disaster would further strain the country's already shaky public finances.

Regulators took new steps Wednesday to overhaul the firms whose rosy credit ratings inspired overconfidence in investments tied to toxic mortgages. The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules meant to improve the system by which such firms as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s assign ratings.