美司法部调查标普公司

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Standard and Poor's improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the year leading up to the financial crisis.

The New York Times says the investigation began before S and P's cut the U.S. top-notch credit rating this month, but it's likely to add to the political firestorm created by the downgrade.

But, a strategist for Russell Investments says, the impact of the downgrade is not that great, and the market is more focused on the global economy.

Stephen Wood, senior portfolio strategist of Russell Investment said, "The impact of the downgrade of the S&P 500 on the US sovereign debt right now would appear to be not impactful. You've seen the debt of the United States, or government bonds, actually get more expensive or rally into this. So, I think right now it's kind of difficult to discriminate between the impact of the downgrade and what's going on in the global economy. I think, personally, the market is taking a much bigger look at what's happening, whether or not there is a recession in the US, whether or not there is a recession in China and Asia, and whether or not the European debt crisis is going to come over to the United States. So, right now, it's really kind of difficult to measure the impact of the downgrade because there are a lot of bigger things happening."