“We believe that Italy's growth prospects are weakening and we expect that the fragile government coalition and the different positions within the Parliament will continue to limit the ability of the Executive to respond decisively to internal and external macroeconomic challenges ”. This is the motivation with which the American agency Standard & Poor's announced the decision to cut Italy's short- and long-term sovereign debt ratings, bringing them respectively from A+ to A and from A-1+ to A-1.
The news was released in a press release issued after midnight and is in line with what has already been established for other eurozone countries: Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Spain.
Standard & Poor's decision had negative effects above all on the Italian spread, which a few minutes after opening at 378 basis points came to touch 400 (399,19), to then settle back to around 390 basis points. Instead, it seems to hold the Stock Exchange. Half an hour after the start of trading, Piazza Affari is the only positive list in Europe, up by more than one point. Slight losses for London (-0,24%), Frankfurt (-0,26%) and Paris (-0,42%). However, volatility remains very high.
