WaPo: Arlington Among NOVA Localities Placed on 'Negative Outlook' by Moody's

Arlington County was one of several Northern Virginia cities and counties to have its AAA credit rating reaffirmed by Moody's Investor Service this week, but has been assigned a "negative outlook" until the rating service can review the county's links to the federal economy, according to the Washington Post.

A managing director at Moody's told the Post that it would be possible for a locality to maintain its AAA rating even if the federal government was downgraded.

Friday night, Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States from AAA to AA+ for the first time, Bloomberg News reports. Moody's and Fitch Ratings, the other two credit-rating agencies, reaffirmed the country's AAA rating earlier in the week.