USA Today reports:
Blue-chip company Automatic Data Processing was stripped of its pristine credit rating, a dramatic move that leaves just three U.S. companies holding the coveted AAA rating.
Only three companies, consumer products firm Johnson & Johnson, energy giant Exxon-Mobil and technology firm Microsoft still have the coveted AAA rating from S&P. The top AAA rating is reserved for those companies with the utmost financial strength and discipline in meeting all obligations.
There's more:
The number of companies with the top-credit rating has been dwindling for years. Back in 1980, there were more than 60 U.S. companies rated AAA by S&P. That fell to six in 2008. Since then, industrial company General Electric, drugmaker Pfizer and now ADP have been downgraded.
The great moments of Keynesian economics!
