(Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s on Monday removed the near-term threat of another credit rating downgrade for the United States by revising its outlook to stable from negative, citing an improved economic and fiscal outlook.

The change effectively means there is less than a one-third chance of a downgrade in the next two years.

S&P said a key factor to its revision in the U.S. rating outlook was the agreement reached by the U.S. Congress to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff’, which had threatened some $600 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts.  Read more