MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Antonia van de Velde – “Standard & Poor’s ratings agency has downgraded France’s credit rating, French television channels reported on Friday, citing a government source.

The channels did not provide further details.

S&P warned in December that it could downgrade the credit ratings of several euro zone nations if European leaders failed to find a lasting solution to the debt crisis at a meeting of EU leaders that month.

Several euro zone countries including France face an ‘imminent’ downgrade by ratings agency S&P, Reuters and Dow Jones news agencies reported, sending the euro to a session low against the dollar and European stocks down. US stocks also tumbled.

The reports said Germany and the Netherlands were not among the countries facing a downgrade later on Friday, but gave no further details.

According to Dow Jones sources, France was among the countries set to be downgraded.

‘Remain alert tonight when U.S. markets close,’ Reuters cited a source as saying.” Read more.

Eurozone nations face S&P downgrade – “Eurozone governments are bracing for new debt-crisis turbulence after Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, told them it would downgrade two of the eurozone’s six triple A nations. One official told the Financial Times that France and Austria were due to be downgraded but this was not confirmed by either the agencies or the governments… In Athens, talks over restructuring Greece’s debt broke down, raising the prospect that Greece could become the first developed country in more than 60 years to undergo a full-scale default on its debt.” Read more.

Banks say no deal on Greek debt – “THE group of major banks negotiating on a write-down of Greek sovereign debt say they have not reached a deal on its debt, including any new write-down. ‘There has been no agreement on any Greek deal or a specific ‘haircut’,’ said Charles Dallara, the head of the Institute of International Finance which is representing the banks in EU negotiations. ‘We remain open to a dialogue in search of a voluntary agreement. There is no agreement on any element of a deal.'” Source – The Australian.