Fitch warns it may downgrade many US banks, including JPMorgan

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Fitch Ratings warned that U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, could be downgraded if the agency further cuts its assessment of the operating environment for the industry, according to a report from CNBC on Tuesday. In June, Fitch lowered the score of the U.S.

banking industry's «operating environment» to AA- from AA, citing pressure on the country's credit rating, gaps in regulatory framework and uncertainty about the future trajectory of interest rate hikes. Another one-notch downgrade, to A+ from AA-, would force Fitch to reevaluate ratings on each of the more than 70 U.S. banks it covers, analyst Chris Wolfe told CNBC.

Lenders were rocked earlier this month after Fitch's peer Moody's downgraded 10 mid-sized U.S. banks and warned it may cut ratings of several others. Shares of U.S.

banks dropped after a Fitch Ratings analyst told CNBC that the agency could downgrade several lenders. Shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America were lower by nearly 2%. Wall Street stocks fell early today following weak Chinese economic data that offset better-than-expected US retail sales.

Data from July showed a slowing in China's retail spending and industrial production growth, while Beijing stopped publishing numbers on its rising youth unemployment rate. Meanwhile, US retail sales advanced 0.7 percent to $696.4 billion last month, up from a revised 0.3 percent bump in June, in a sign that the strong labor market continues to support consumption. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.7 percent at 35,074.70.