Moody’s Top U.S. Rating Rebuts S&P as Lawmakers Address Debt

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed the U.S.’s top rating for the second time in a week, rebutting Standard & Poor’s after it stripped the world’s largest economy of its top credit status.

The U.S. today retained its Aaa ranking with a negative outlook in part because the dollar’s status as the main reserve currency allows it to support higher debt levels than other countries, Moody’s said today in a report. Lawmakers last week took a “positive step” toward addressing the nation’s record deficits, Steven Hess, the senior credit officer at Moody’s in New York, said in a telephone interview.