Asia, Europe to Standard and Poor's: What-ever

[Enrique]

Asia, Europe Set to 'Stick It Out' With U.S. Debt After S&P Cut


Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Asian states and Russia are likely to retain their U.S. Treasury holdings after Standard & Poor's cut the U.S.'s sovereign credit rating to AA+ as European governments expressed confidence in the world's largest economy.

Russia said the one-step cut "can be ignored." South Korean officials put the downgrade on the agenda of an emergency meeting on global turmoil tomorrow. China's official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary the U.S. must cure its "addiction" to borrowing. With Europe battling its debt crisis, France joined the U.S. in questioning S&P's reasoning.

For all the angst, policy makers from China to Japan to Southeast Asia are lured to Treasuries as a result of efforts to stem gains in their currencies against the dollar, which would impair export competitiveness. Asia accounts for about half of foreign-owned U.S. debt, Treasury data show.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/05/bloomberg1376-LPHZVU0D9L3501-1ICSU2E89V51P3GQQ7HMA0B46P.DTL#ixzz1UIKFVm8F

[CatholicEdHead]

1. As APM's Marketplace has said the last two weeks

US Treasuries are still the safest out there even with the downgrade.