Quote:
Originally Posted by Jermyzy Can somebody explain to me why US gets a credit downgrade, but more people buy US treasury/USD goes up? |
My coworker explained it like this, and I really like it:
Lets say you have a big solid rock (the US economy), with a ton of other rocks (other country's economies) stacked upon it. If all of a sudden the big rock becomes less stable, what is the relative stability of the other rocks piled ontop? Even more unstable!
So when the US was rated less stable, public perception is that if the most stable investment out there is shaky, then all the other seemingly stable investments must be even worse. People flee these less stable investments and need somewhere to park their $$. The US is still, in public opinion (not rating agencies) the most stable, so guess where the money ends up!
Weird, yet makes sense when they factor in that people are sheep.