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Pow! Thwack! Justice goes after S&P

<p>New Jersey Governor Chris Christie keeps saying he&#039;s not running for president.</p>
Governor Christie at the Jersey Shore.
Governor Christie at the Jersey Shore.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie keeps saying he's not running for president. If he changes his mind, it'll be interesting to watch him work with this -- news that Wall Street has downgraded the state's credit for the third time this year. From the Star-Ledger:

Citing the state’s failure to make full pension payments and its sluggish economic recovery, Fitch Ratings downgraded New Jersey’s bond rating a notch, ranking it among the lowest in the nation. The move could make it more costly for the state to borrow.The action is the third time in less than six months New Jersey has had its bond rating downgraded by Wall Street. Moody’s and Standard &amp; Poor’s gave New Jersey similar low ratings before the state budget was finalized.Only California and Illinois have lower ratings than the AA-minus Fitch gave New Jersey.

In other amazing Wall Street news that you maybe thought you'd never care about or need to care about, the New York Times reports today that the Obama Justice Department is investigating Standard & Poor's for the way it rated what turned out to be toxic assets before the financial crisis. The Times report comes the same month that Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating for the first time in history, over the strenuous objections of the Obama administration. The paper says it's still not known is whether the Justice Department is looking into S&P's competitors, or just S&P.