Asset managers assess impact of US downgrade

The historic decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the long-term sovereign credit rating of the US one notch to AA+ came as little surprise to Asian asset managers. What was of greater surprise was that the rating agency left it on negative outlook. Aside from raising awkward questions about what can truly be deemed risk-free, in itself the downgrade was not seen as significant. “It is perhaps the inevitability [of the downgrade] that is significant,” says Peter Elston, A…