For most sovereigns, the two debt burden metrics and the two debt affordability metrics are equally weighted. But because the US is a reserve currency issuer, Moody’s tweaks the weights on its scorecard so that the Debt Burden sub-factors each attract a 5 per cent weight, and each Debt Affordability sub-factor attracts a 45 per cent weight.

How could the downgrade impact Americans? The dip in the U.S. credit rating indicates that ratings agencies believe the government is at a higher risk of default on its debt. Whil

Wall Street stocks finished a meandering session higher on Monday (May 19), shrugging off Moody's downgrade of US sovereign debt, which could balloon further. Yields of US Treasury bonds spiked early