MONTREAL - Worldwide stock markets took a tumble Monday morning, in the first weekday of trading after Standard & Poor's lowered the credit rating for the United States debt.
On Friday evening the rating agency released its decision to knock the U.S. government from AAA to AA+, despite objections by the White House that the report upon which the decision was made contained a $2 trillion error in projected debt levels.
Regardless Japan's Nikkei index fell 2.2 percent, while the Dow Jones, the TSX and other stock markets all fell several hundred points on Monday.
The value of the Canadian dollar fell nearly a penny relative to the greenback, to levels not seen since February 2011.
While many people are worried about their investments, especially investors getting close to retirement, financial advisor Arnold Zwaig says that anyone who is excessively nervous should reconsider what they do with their savings.
"If you're truly sitting on the couch worried, that means that your risk tolerance is not matching up to the investments that you have," said Zwaig.
He said that anyone who cannot bear the thought of seeing their shares drop, or watching a dip in the value of mutual funds should go ahead and sell, then reinvest in more stable opportunities.
Several options did rise in value Monday morning, with the price for gold going above US$1,700 per oz. for the first time, while the value of U.S. Treasury bonds increased.
