Fannie and Freddie Downgraded

Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt has taken a toll on mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were taken over by the U.S. government in 2008. Fannie and Freddie rely heavily on the government to purchase mortgages from banks, though it's not clear whether the downgrade will affect their borrowing costs. While S&P itself worried that interest rates would spike after the downgrade, a jump in mortgage rates now seems unlikely, given that Treasury yields fell on Monday. The Federal Home Loan Banks will also suffer in the fallout from S&P's credit downgrade, though AAA-rated businesses like Johnson & Johnson will keep their good ratings.