The U.S.'s AA+ credit rating outlook was increased to stable from negative by Standard & Poor's, based on receding fiscal risks, less than two years after the ratings agency stripping the world's largest economy of its top ranking.

The U.S. has a less than one-in-three likelihood of a downgrade in the "near term," S&P said today in a statement. The New York-based company said it sees "tentative improvements," such as the deal politicians reached to resolve what became known as the fiscal cliff and the spending cuts in the Budget Control Act of 2011.

U.S. government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product will likely be stable, at about 84 percent, for the next few years, S&P said. This may "allow policy makers some additional time to take steps to address pent-up age-related spending pressures." S&P, the world's largest credit rater, cut the U.S. ranking from AAA in August 2011, contributing to a global stock-market rout and sending yields on Treasury debt to record lows as investors sought a refuge in the world's most easily traded securities.