Debt ceiling chaos could still trigger U.S. credit downgrade

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“It’s not just the debt limit,” James McCormack, Fitch Ratings’ managing director and global head of sovereign and supranational ratings, said in an interview. “What we’ve seen in the United States is a steady deterioration in governance.” McCormack says his team has spoken with officials at Treasury, on Capitol Hill and at Washington think tanks as they weigh a decision that’s expected in the coming months. “That is typically part of our review process,” he said. “It’s not simply a desk analysis that we do without speaking with parties in D.C.” A downgrade could shake confidence in the world’s premier...