The American agency Standard & Poor's downgrades France's sovereign debt rating, that thus loses the triple A. This was stated by a French government source to the France Presse agency, which specifies that Germany, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg have instead been spared for now. The Paris finance ministry declined to comment on the news, nor has any official confirmation yet come from S&P.
The item still had an immediate effect on the Stock Exchanges: Milan has accelerated downwards, and half an hour after the close of the markets it leaves 1,70% in the field, the worst among the lists of the Old Continent. However, things are not much better either in the other main European markets: Paris loses 1,06 (Oat-Bund spread at 134 basis points, ten-year Oat rate at 3,1%), London 1,16 and Frankfurt 1,48 .XNUMX%.
In short, significant reductions, but not real meltdowns. The possible downgrade to the detriment of the second largest economy in the Eurozone had in fact been in the air for several weeks now and it is reasonable to conclude that the markets have in fact already discounted the weight of this new excellent rejection. France is in fact the second world queen to lose the longed-for triple crown in recent months. Before her, the same fate had befallen another big world, the United States, dethroned in August by the same agency.
On December 5, S&P put 15 eurozone countries under "credit watch" with negative implications, underlining that Paris risked a downgrade of two notches.
But that's not enough. Rumors that Standard & Poor's was about to cut its rating also spread on the markets in the afternoon also to Italy and four other European countries: probably Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium. According to EU sources cited by the Dow Jones agency, the downgrade would be "imminent" and could take place as early as today, at 19 pm. According to other sources, however, the communication should arrive after 22 pm in Italy, the closing time of the American Stock Exchange. All that remains is to wait.
Read i comments from the French press to the news of the triple A downgrade
