On Wednesday, ratings agency Fitch downgraded US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings, (IDR) and senior unsecured debt ratings to AA+ from AAA following the ratings agency’s downgrade of the rating for the United States on Tuesday.

Fitch said the downgrade was “not being driven by fundamental credit, capital or liquidity deterioration at firms,” and was simply an extension of Tuesday’s downgrade.

Other analysts said the downgrade was unavoidable once Fitch had downgraded the United States. Gennadiy Goldberg, Head of US Rates Strategy at TD Securities said, “The downgrade to the ratings of Fannie and Freddie was a certainty after Fitch’s downgrade of the US rating since the two ratings are linked.”

He added, “I don’t think many investors will be surprised by the change since, much as with the US sovereign debt, the one-notch downgrade will not materially impact investing decisions.”

Toward the end of May, as lawmakers haggled over raising the US government’s debt ceiling, and negotiations seemed poised to drag on without a resolution, Fitch had placed the ratings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on watch.

However despite the resolution of the debt ceiling negotiations, the ratings agency still downgraded the rating of the US on Tuesday, drawing angry responses from the White House and US lawmakers, as it caught investors off-guard.