Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. The U.S. government accused Standard & Poor's of inflating ratings on mortgage investments to boost its bottom line, taking aim at a key player in the run-up to the financial crisis. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. The U.S. government accused Standard & Poor's of inflating ratings on mortgage investments to boost its bottom line, taking aim at a key player in the run-up to the financial crisis. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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FILE - This Oct. 9, 2011 file photo shows 55 Water Street, home of Standard & Poor's, in New York. S&P said Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, the U.S. government is expected to file civil charges against Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, alleging that it improperly gave high ratings to mortgage debt that later plunged in value and helped fuel the 2008 financial crisis. The charges would mark the first enforcement action the government has taken against a major rating agency involving the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams, File)
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FILE - In this April 10, 2012 file photo, a McGraw-Hill Companies building is shown in New York. Standard & Poor's, a division of McGraw-Hill, says the government plans to file a lawsuit alleging wrongdoing by the agency when it gave high ratings to mortgage-backed securities that later plunged in value and fueled the 2008 financial crisis. S&P said Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, that it has been told by the Department of Justice that it intends to file a civil lawsuit focusing on S&P's ratings on some mortgage-backed securities in 2007. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
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President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks during the last news conference of his first term in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Stock traders work at the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, left, Indiana Gov.-Elect Mike Pence, center, and Republican Governors Association Chairman and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell participate in a panel discussion during the 2012 RGA Annual Conference at Encore hotel-casino Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, in Las Vegas. Top Republicans meeting for the first time since Election Day say the party failed to unseat President Barack Obama because nominee Mitt Romney did not respond to criticism strongly enough or outline a specific agenda with a broad appeal. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill)
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FILE - This Nov. 7, 2012 file photo shows then-Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney taking the stage to concede his quest for president, at the Boston Convention Center in Boston. The Grand Old Party needs to get with the times. That's according to many Republicans who talked of the party's challenges following the GOP's electoral shellacking. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
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Republican Governors Association Chairman and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell speaks during a panel discussion at the 2012 RGA Annual Conference at Encore hotel-casino Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, in Las Vegas. Top Republicans meeting for the first time since Election Day say the party failed to unseat President Barack Obama because nominee Mitt Romney did not respond to criticism strongly enough or outline a specific agenda with a broad appeal. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill)
Fitch downgrades Dutch outlook to negative
AMSTERDAM (AP) — Ratings agency
Fitch has downgraded the Netherlands' outlook from stable to negative while reaffirming the country's AAA rating.
The agency has cut the outlook based on the country's troubled housing market, where prices are falling fast, the level of public debt, and weaknesses in the country's banking sector that was highlighted by last week's nationalization of SNS Bank.
Fitch said Tuesday the nationalization was not enough to merit downgrading the country's long-held AAA sovereign rating.
The agency says the "housing market correction" is worse than it had previously expected and will continue to weigh on consumer spending.
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