City drops S & P

Standard & Poor's will no longer grade the city's investment portfolio after the agency that downgraded the nation's credit score warned Los Angeles that its rating would also fall, officials announced Monday. Daily News.

Interim Treasurer Steve Ongele said he made the decision to cancel the city's $16,000-a-year contract with the firm after he was told the credit rating on the city's nearly $8 billion investment portfolio was being lowered.

"We were told the city's general pool would be downgraded from AAA-F to AA-F for our funds," Ongele told the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee. "I made the decision to withdraw from Standard & Poor's, which rates our investment pool.