On Aug. 5, 2011, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Serviceslowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on theUnited States of America to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA’ and affirmed its ‘A-1+’ short-term rating. Standard & Poor’s also

removed the short- and long-term ratings from CreditWatch,

where they were placed with negative implications on July 14,

2011. (See the full report, “United States of America Long-

Term Rating Lowered To ‘AA+’ On Political Risks And Rising

Debt Burden; Outlook Negative,” published Aug. 5, 2011, on

RatingsDirect on the Global Credit Portal and our Web page,

www.standardandpoors.com.)

Standard & Poor’s CreditWeek | August 17, 2011 58

The Impact Of Standard & Poor’s U.S. Downgrade On Other Asset Classes

Transcript Of Teleconference Held On Aug. 10, 2011