????標準普爾（Standard & Poor's）上周五猛烈抨擊了美國的經濟和政治體系，有史以來首次降低了美國的AAA評級。標普的競爭對手穆迪（Moody’s）對此持有異議，它仍堅持美國的Aaa評級，不過同時也把美國的信用展望下調至“負面”。

????兩大評級機構在美債評級上產生分歧后，一些分析師迅速跳出來大做文章，許多人更試圖否定標普的結論。但《財富》雜志（Fortune）經回顧發現，標普和穆迪其實經常在主權信用評級上產生分歧。

????在對全球GDP最高的15個國家的評級上，標普和穆迪只對10個國家的評級保持一致，而在其余五國的評級上存在分歧（包括美國）。

????其中，他們對日本、巴西和墨西哥三國的評級只是稍有分歧。例如標普對日本的評級是AA-，而穆迪的評級則是Aa2。正常來說，按照兩家評級機構各自的評級標準，如果他們的評級一致，結果應該顯示為AA-對Aa3，或是AA對Aa2.

????除了美國之外，意大利是另一個讓標普和穆迪產生重大分歧的國家，兩機構對該國的評級整整差了一級。標普將意大利評為A+，而穆迪將其評為Aa2。穆迪現在正在對日本和意大利進行審查，有可能對他們進行信用降級。

????譯者：樸成奎

????Standard & Poor's on Friday night slammed the U.S. economy and its political system, lowering the nation's AAA credit rating for the first time in history. Rival credit rating agency Moody's dissented, reaffirming its Aaa rating while placing the country on negative credit watch.

????Some analysts have been making hay of the discrepancy, particularly as a way to delegitimize S&P's decision. But a review by Fortune shows that the two agencies regularly disagree over sovereign credit ratings.

????When it comes to rating the 15 nations with the highest GDP, S&P and Moody's only sync up 66% of the time. For five countries, including the U.S., they do not.

????Three of the disputed sovereigns -- Japan, Brasil and Mexico -- differ only slightly. Japan, for example, is rated AA- by S&P and Aa2 by Moody's. A perfect match would be AA- and Aa3, or AA and Aa2.

????Italy is the only country other than the U.S. to have an entire category differential, with S&P rating it A+ and Moody's rating it Aa2. Both Japan and Italy currently are under review by Moody's for possible credit rating downgrades.