US reeling after S&P downgrades rating

The United States was reeling today after Standard & Poor’s lowered the nation’s AAA credit rating for the first time since granting it in 1917.

The move came less than a week after a gridlocked Congress finally agreed to spending cuts that would reduce the debt by more than $2 trillion – a tumultuous process that contributed to convulsions in financial markets. But the promised cuts were not enough to satisfy credit rating agency S&P.