Rating agency S&P will downgrade France..

Rating agency S & P will downgrade France

France is apparently just before the loss of its top rating. Other euro countries have to fear the downgrading by Standard & Poor's.

The rating agency Standard & Poor's has reportedly decided to withdraw, in a large rating action France and Austria, the top rating. Paris and Vienna could not yet operated, according to information from financial circles, a "AA +" instead receive a "AAA".

In addition, should the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland, while its "AAA" reserve. However, this get a negative outlook. These countries were therefore latent in danger without adequate measures to lose their credit ratings soon. Only Germany retains supposedly without limitations, the highest rating.

The information was not yet in government, officially confirmed yet in financial circles. S & P itself did not comment. According to the information the agency wants to publish the rating scores after the close of trading in the U.S.. After becoming aware of this information, the stock exchanges turned into negative territory. The Dax fell by 1.6 percent.

As an indicator of the extent of the downgrade, however, the collapse of the euro is more serious. Within a short time, the common currency lost more than 1.7 cents in value against the dollar. The rating action is not entirely surprising. Announced in early December S & P to take the six remaining "AAA"-countries of the euro-zone under observation.

Judged the S & P Euro-zone

A negative credit outlook means that a country could be downgraded to a 50-percent probability in the next three months.

After such an announcement within three months, a reassessment of these countries is due. At that time, S & P's threat to the euro crisis had founded, which threatens not only individual countries such as Italy or Portugal, in its financial stability, but prefer the euro zone as a whole and thus also the healthy countries affected.

France's rating was also already at risk longer than. Multiple experts have called for austerity measures and structural reforms. President Nicolas Sarkozy had therefore been trying for weeks to mitigate the threat of embarrassment communicative, explaining as he did, that was the loss of "AAA" a disaster for his country.

However, it is probably also the top rating of the euro rescue fund EFSF then. Not only the countries concerned but also of the Fund should now have to pay higher interest on loans.