May 19 (UPI) -- American markets fell to open the week Monday, reacting to Friday's news that Moody's Ratings was downgrading U.S. debt.
The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 44.39 points or 0.10% to 42,610.35, while the S&P 500 declined by 16.44 or 0.28% to 5,941.94 and the Nasdaq Composite was in the red by 88.53 or 0.46% to 19,122.57 by late morning.
On Friday, Moody's downgraded its rating of U.S. government long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Aa1 from Aaa, becoming the last of the big three credit rating agencies to do so.
The agency also moved its outlook to negative from a previous rating of stable. It initially warned of the downgrade last November.
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