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Events on Tuesday 2 August 2011 1
2011US debt ceiling crisis and credit downgradeStandard & Poor's strips the United States of its AAA ratingA prolonged political standoff over raising the U.S. federal debt ceiling was resolved just before a threatened default, but the brinkmanship led Standard & Poor's to downgrade the sovereign credit rating of the United States for the first time in history. Financial markets fell sharply in the following days. The episode intensified partisan gridlock over federal budget policy.