A U.S. Default Is Unlikely, But So Is An Oil Rally

This week, as the deadline for reaching an agreement on raising the US debt limit approached, the ratings agency Fitch announced that they were placing the AAA debt rating of the United States government on “negative watch”. If you are new to trading and investing, and particularly if you live outside of the US, that news might surprise you. I mean why would any country, least of all the one whose currency and debt form the basis of the global financial system, put its credit rating at risk periodically by squabbling about partisan…