Egan-Jones affirms U.S. AA rating, negative outlook

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rating agency Egan-Jones on Tuesday affirmed the credit rating of the U.S. government at AA, citing concerns about the country's debt load and lukewarm economic growth.

The rating has a negative outlook, Egan-Jones added.

By the end of 2012, the agency said in a statement, "debt to GDP is likely to be in the area of 106.5 percent."

The agency also said that another round of quantitative easing from the U.S. Federal Reserve - which analysts in a Reuters poll see as likely - could trigger a cut in the rating.

The easing would be unlikely to enhance the real gross domestic product or reduce sovereign debt "but is likely to inflate costs, placing additional strain on U.S. consumers... QE3 will likely trigger a neg.(ative) action," the statement read.

Moody's Investors Service currently rates the United States Aaa, Fitch rates the country AAA, and Standard & Poor's rates the country AA+. All three of those ratings have a negative outlook.

(Reporting by Luciana Lopez; Editing by Dan Grebler)