Italy, Spain, Portugal Ratings Lowered by Moody’s as U.K. Outlook Negative!

• The Eurozone is on fire. This is creating a massive distraction for the humongous problem in America. Whatever sovereign debt problems the Eurozone has, America’s debt problems are several orders of magnitude worse. The problems of the Eurozone are providing support for the USD via a weak Euro. But no one should be deceived into thinking the chickens won’t come home to roost in America. America is the BIG ONE. When the USD collapses it will be a knock out blow to the global financial and monetary system and send the world economy into an undeniable Greater Depression.
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  Italy, Spain, Portugal Ratings Lowered by Moody’s as U.K. Outlook Negative! 
  By Ben Livesey and Cordell Eddings, http://www.bloomberg.com/ 
  Moody’s Investors Service cut the debt ratings of six European countries including Italy, Spain and Portugal and said it may strip France and the U.K. of their top Aaa ratings, citing Europe’s debt crisis.
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  Spain was downgraded to A3 from A1 yesterday, Italy to A3 from A2 and Portugal to Ba3 from Ba2, all with negative outlooks. Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta also had their ratings lowered.
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  “Policy makers have made steps forward but we do not think they have done enough to reassure the market that we are on a stable path,” said Alistair Wilson, chief credit officer for Europe at Moody’s in London. “What will guide long-term ratings is the clarity and the performance of policy makers and the macro picture.”
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  The euro weakened while U.S. equity futures retreated. The yen gained 0.2 percent against the euro as of 9:39 a.m. inTokyo. The euro slipped 0.2 percent to $1.3167. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.1 percent after the stock benchmark climbed 0.7 percent yesterday.
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  “The uncertainty over the euro area’s prospects for institutional reform of its fiscal and economic framework,” and the resources that will be made available to deal with the crisis, are among the main drivers of Moody’s action, the ratings company said.
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  Recent rating cuts have done little to deter investors, who poured money into the government bonds of nations such as France and Austria even after the countries lost their AAA ratings at Standard & Poor’s last month. U.S. Treasuries returned three times as much as AAA corporate bonds since the world’s biggest economy was cut by one rank in August.
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  Austrian Outlook
  Moody’s yesterday also lowered its outlook on Austria’s Aaa rating to negative. Malta’s rating was downgraded to A3 from A2, and Slovakia and Slovenia were both downgraded to A2 from A1. All three were given negative outlooks.
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  Moody’s said Europe’s “increasingly weak macroeconomic prospects” threaten the “implementation of domestic austerity programs and the structural reforms that are needed to promote competitiveness.” It said market confidence “is likely to remain fragile, with a high potential for further shocks to funding conditions for stressed sovereigns and banks.”
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  … for more click here!

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