US loses AAA rating; G7 may meet as euro zone crisis deepens
China slams Washington, calls for new global reserve currency
$ 2.5 trillion worth stocks wiped out from share markets
NEW YORK/ROME, Aug 6 (Reuters) - The United States lost its top-tier AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday, hours after investors alarmed by the euro zone debt crisis forced Italy to speed up an austerity drive.
China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, made clear that Washington only had itself to blame and called for a new stable global reserve currency. In a sign of how concerned world leaders are about a slide in stocks that wiped about $2.5 trillion off global markets this week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations would meet in “just a few days” to seek a common plan of action.
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