Israeli Credit Rating May Be Cut by S&P in Line With U.S. Action

Israel may have its AAA credit rating on U.S.-guaranteed sovereign bonds cut by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service in line with a similar action it has warned of taking on U.S. debt.

S&P put Israel’s rating on “CreditWatch” today, meaning there is a 50 percent chance it may be cut in the next 90 days. It said the action should have been taken July 14 when the U.S. rating was placed on “CreditWatch,” attributing the lapse to an administrative error.

The ratings service said it acted on the U.S. debt because of an assessment that a substantial policy stalemate could last beyond any near-term agreement to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv at jferziger@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Louis Meixler at lmeixler@bloomberg.net.