US Rating Cut by Scope After Three Weeks of Shutdown Impasse (1)

The US was cut by one notch at Scope Ratings after more than three weeks of Washington stalemate over government spending triggered action by the European credit assessor.

The world’s biggest economy is now scored at AA- by the Berlin-based company, which had already warned at the onset of the shutdown of the danger to its outlook posed by the impasse in Congress. That’s three steps down from its top grade.

“Sustained deterioration in public finances and a weakening of governance standards drive the downgrade,” Scope said in a statement on Friday.

“The weakening of governance standards lowers the predictability ...