S&P: United States rating unaffected

Standard & Poor's said it does not expect negotiations over the fiscal cliff to have an impact on its AA+/A-1+ ratings on the United States federal government.

In 2011, the agency lowered its rating on the government from AAA, citing, among other factors, "the political brinkmanship of recent months [that] highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective and less predictable".

S&P said it believes that this characterization still holds.

If lawmakers reach no agreement, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government will receive additional revenue and will forgo additional expenses of upwards of $500 billion a year. Such a sharp, unplanned fiscal correction, however, would likely result in the U.S. economy contracting by half a percent in 2013 and unemployment rising a percent to 9% by 2014, the agency said.

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