- US Markets Bracing for Selloff on Dubai Debt Worries
- US Dollar Falls to 14-Year Low Against the Yen
- No Thanksgiving Rest for Retailers in Sales Race
- UK's Darling to Downgrade 2009 Growth Forecast
- US Companies Already Moving on Curbing Emissions
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- Investing in Good Karma – and Making a Profit
- Retailers Should Believe in Christmas Miracles
- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
MOST SHARED
- Kuoni CEO Sees Recovery in Travel Sector
- Dubai Struggles to Ease Debt Fears; Investors Rattled
- Gold Retreats from Record High as Dollar Rebounds
- US Markets Bracing for Selloff On Worries About Dubai's Debt
- China Unveils Carbon Target Ahead of Copenhagen
- UK's Darling to Downgrade 2009 Growth Forecast
- Hyundai-Kia Targets Rapid China Growth in 2010
- No Thanksgiving Rest for Retailers in Sales Race
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
Text Size 
As talk of the United States' ability to keep its AAA rating resurfaced Wednesday, one analyst told CNBC that the impact could be prove a major drag on the strength of the dollar.
Concerns over the rating reemerged as David Walker, chief executive of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former comptroller general of the US, wrote in an opinion piece in the FT that the US government’s top tier rating could be at risk.
Walker cited the need for comprehensive health-care reform and the government’s inability to address the growing structural imbalances facing the country for his doubts over the gold seal for investors, which the US has held since 1917.
- Watch the full interview with Zeb Bham above.
Around two years ago, rating agency Moody’s issued a warning shot across the bows of the US by saying that if it didn’t start to balance its books it could lose its AAA rating, Walker wrote. That was before the credit crisis even stuck and the problems highlighted by Moody’s have intensified, he said.
“It’s highly unlikely that (a downgrade) will actually happen, I think it’s just a warning to all policy makers that if they continue to increase spending it’s going to be untenable in the long term,” Zeb Bham, currency strategist at CorporateFx, told CNBC.
If the US is downgraded by one or more of the rating agencies, it could result in a massive devaluation of the dollar, according to Bham.
Speculation reported in London's Telegraph newspaper last month, about the pound's status as AAA-rated, sent the UK currency tumbling by 1 percent, Bham noted. And that was just a rumor, he said, adding that a similar pressure could visit the dollar.
Print
Email
- What you need to know.
- Ever wished your cab driver would stop nattering and just get to where you're going? Well that moment is near(er).
- Eric Schmidt pledges to create a virtual copy of the Iraq National Museum at Google’s expense.
- Bill Griffeth is taking a leave of absence from CNBC and Power Lunch for a year. Here's a message from Bill.
- More shoppers than ever plan to comparison-shop this season. Who will benefit?
- It may be the most unusual guide to business you'll read.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes