Standard & Poor's could cut Italy's credit rating and four other European countries (probably Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium). This was stated by EU sources cited by the Dow Jones agency for whom the downgrade would be "imminent" e It could happen as early as today, at 19pm.
S&P declined to comment. The rating agency had already put 15 eurozone countries under "credit watch" with negative implications on 5 December.
The rumor circulating on the markets had an immediate effect on the Stock Exchange and on the spread: Milan turned negative, losing a point and a half, while the Btp-Bund differential returned above the threshold of 500 basis points (this morning it had touched 460).
