People who are waiting for a return to normalcy in the stock market and the broader U.S. economy got some unsettling news this week in the form of a warning from Moody's Investors Service about the long-term state of the nation's credit rating.
According to the UK's Financial Times newspaper, the firm has warned that the triple AAA sovereign credit rating of the United States could be jeopardized by either weak economic growth or a failure to properly address the country's budget deficit and national debt.
The newspaper went on to note that Moody's sees the U.S. currently on a debt growth trend that is "clearly continuously upward," adding that if the economy grows less than project, it will result in an even larger budget deficit than currently projected.
With a national debt that is rapidly approaching $14 trillion, investors around the world have already been feeling growing reservations about the long-term prospects for the U.S. economy and dollar. Compounding this concern is looming debt problems in various other countries.
Still, investors have traditionally found a safe haven in gold and other precious metals when such doubts have emerged over the years.
