Relax. The U.S. isnt a deadbeat

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It looks like after two months of ignoring the risks that remain for the economy and markets, Wall Street has finally found something else to worry about: the possibility that the United States could lose its AAA credit rating.

Thursday was one of those rare days when stocks, bonds and the dollar all fell. Stocks recovered slightly Friday morning ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, but Treasurys and the greenback were lower again.

The sell-off was partly sparked by Thursday's news that rating agency Standard & Poor's had decided to place the sovereign rating of the United Kingdom on "negative watch."

S&P did not actually downgrade the United Kingdom. Like the United States, it still has an AAA rating, the highest that a country, municipality or corporation can have.

Nonetheless, the move was viewed as a precursor to an eventual downgrade. And investors went one step further to assume that if Britain was being put on notice, then the "colonies" might be next.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday that the Obama administration was "not concerned about a change in our credit rating."

But downgrade fears were heightened because the highly respected bond guru Bill Gross, who manages the Pimco Total Return fund, said in published reports that the United States could lose its AAA rating in a few years, if not before then.