Market history · Sovereign credit ·
Moody's strips the US of its last top credit rating
On 16 May 2025 Moody's downgraded the US government's credit rating by one notch, from Aaa to Aa1, citing rising deficits and interest costs. It followed Standard & Poor's in 2011 and Fitch in 2023.
The direct market impact was modest: the US retained a very high rating and unmatched market depth. The bigger question for investors was the trend in debt-servicing costs and what that means for long-dated Treasury yields.
The takeaway
A sovereign downgrade is usually a slow-moving signal, not a switch that changes the safe-haven role of an asset overnight.
This is a retrospective about a past event, provided for general information. It is not investment advice, does not describe RockLake's positioning at the time, and past performance is not a guide to future performance. Read the risk warning.