WASHINGTON (AP) — Anger at the nation's leaders for taking so long to strike a debt-ceiling deal has turned into high anxiety over jobs and the economy amid growing fears of a new recession.

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The news that credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the nation's credit rating a notch for the first time ever only added to the tension.

The darkening clouds come in what should have been a good week for President Barack Obama. After all, he and Republican leaders finally ended a months-long game of brinkmanship with a bipartisan agreement to raise the government's debt ceiling and to trim spending.

The deal kept the government from beginning to run out of cash last Tuesday, averting a first-ever U.S. default and a possible global financial meltdown.

And there was a relatively good jobs report on Friday.

But applause for the debt-limit deal or the increase in jobs never came.

In fact, stock markets around the world tumbled during the week as grim new economic figures suggested the U.S. recovery has stalled and as debt default tensions climbed in Europe.