After yesterday's stab, today Moody's rages on Portugal. The American rating agency downgraded the ratings of four of the country's major banks: minus three steps for Caixa Geral de Depositos and Bes, minus four steps for the private institutes Millennium Bcp and Banif. A practically inevitable decision, after the downgrading of Lisbon government bonds 24 hours ago, which have now reached the "junk" level.
Yesterday's initiative had triggered a violent controversy with the European authorities because it arrived at a stage in which there had been no significant developments regarding Portugal. Rather, the climate is characterized by generalized tensions on the bonds of the peripheral countries of the euro area, which according to some European observers are also fueled by the way the rating agencies operate.
