The downgrade of the UK’s creditworthiness by Moody’s, the rating agency, to the second-highest notch is less a moment of economic significance than one of acute political embarrassment, and a self-inflicted one at that.
Announcements by credit rating agencies should largely be treated as irrelevant. Moody’s statement reveals nothing that professional investors do not already know. Still, ratings decisions can sometimes have real effects because of the wrong-headed way investment mandates and capital rules are designed to rely on them.
But in this case, the downgrade simply catches up with recent market movements. The UK’s slowdown means that deficits and debt will be higher than expected. Meanwhile the eurozone, while equally sluggish, has opted to stick together. The natural market response has been a reversal in the past flows of haven-seeking funds into sterling and gilts.