SAN FRANCISCO -- Fitch Ratings said Thursday it downgraded CIT's long-term issuer default rating to A- from A and its short-term default rating to F2 from F1. "Fitch's downgrade reflects liquidity challenges CIT has endured over the past year as a result of general capital markets disruptions, which has caused CIT to execute its contingency funding plan. As a result, Fitch believes that the company's financial flexibility has been reduced, as it has increasingly had to rely on secured funding sources or asset sales to generate liquidity," said the ratings agency in a statement. Nonetheless, Fitch expects CIT will successfully execute various strategic funding objectives over the remainder of 2008, it said. The rating outlook is negative.

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