US will not quickly return to AAA rating: S&P

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor has said that the US is unlikely to regain its AAA credit rating status any time soon.

"We still think that the risks to the rating are still pitched to the downside - that's why we have a negative outlook," the BBC quoted David Beers, S&P's head of sovereign ratings, as saying.

"We don't anticipate a scenario at the moment in which the US would quickly return to AAA," Beers said.

The agency made the comments as it downgraded the state-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of their 'direct reliance on the US government'.

"If [there were] broader consensus among parties about how to make fiscal policy choices over the medium-term horizon and in turn that translated into a more substantial and more robust fiscal stimulation package, those two things could together in time lead to the rating returning to AAA," Beers said.

"But given the nature of the debate currently in the country, with the polarisation of views across the country right now, we don't see anything immediately on the horizon that would make this the most likely scenario," he added.

The agency also lowered ratings for clearing houses and other institutions linked to long-term US debt from AAA to AA+.