S&P Lowers US Credit Rating to AA

(NECN) - Credit rating agency Standard & Poor says it has downgraded the U.S. Credit rating for the first time in history, down from a AAA rating to an AA+.

The S&P says it is making the move because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress on Tuesday does not go far enough to stabilize the country's current debt situation.

The news comes after another tumultuous day on the markets. The Blue Chips was up 61 points - one day after falling more than 500. The NASDAQ dropped 24 points.

The latest jobs report, released Friday morning, also had an impact on the markets. The data seemed to offering some surprising reassurance. After layoffs, 117,000 new jobs were added - 56% better than forecast.

The jobless rate dropped from 9.2% to 9.1%. 154,000 private sector jobs were added - a 92% increase from June.

"We have to create more jobs than that each month to make up for the more than eight million jobs that the recession claimed." President Obama said, "We need to create a self-sustaining cycle where people are spending and companies are hiring and our economy is growing."

The president also said that July marked the 17 consecutive month of job growth within the private sector.

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