Should we fear a US downgrade?

Tom Walker Co-manager, Martin Currie North American fund   Never say never. The idea that the ratings agencies might downgrade US sovereign debt might have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Today, however, we are living in unprecedented times. But while we should fear the possibility of a downgrade, it is just one of a number of ‘big picture' concerns at the moment - and not even the most pressing of those. The higher yields entailed by a downgrade would certainly make the US's main task - cutting the fiscal deficit - more difficult. But with a stubbornly depressed housing ...