Standard and Poor's Downgrades Standard and Poor's

Standard & Poor’s cut its outlook for itself to negative from stable due to risks from its mass downgrading sprees it has been doing of late.

“We’ve downgraded so many countries, companies and financial institutions that we thought, what the hell, let’s downgrade ourselves as well,” Eric Maxbygraves, Standard and Poor’s chief downgrader told the Financial Times.

Mr Maxbygraves also added that S&P also wanted to downgrade their competitors like Moody’s and Fitch: “They don’t get off lightly. We’re going to downgrade them in the next few days as well,” he said.

The move sparked a rally in gold, seen as a secure investment, which hit a new high as it moved close to 10,500 US dollars an ounce.