By the opening bell, the U.S. stock market felt the critically deprecating blow of the credit downgrade by S&P as stocks plummet.  This is not surprising, and could have been significantly worse if the announcement was made earlier in the week.

At approximately 8 PM on Friday, August 5, S&P downgraded the AAA credit rating of the United States.  This was seen as a strategically placed announcement considering the stock market could not feel any effects until after the weekend, which should have given investors enough time to gather their wits before cashing in all their stocks.  

Ultimately, the long weekend did nothing but hinder the unavoidable fall of the United States stock market on the coming Monday.  By mid-day, The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 have seen declines of over 3%, and with it come declines in oil by 3.5%, and gold has increased by over 3% due to leery investors investing their money in a traditionally stable commodity.  

The lingering effects of this downgrading are yet to be seen, and it is feared that investors may be more likely to put their money in foreign markets at least until the U.S. markets stabilize.