S&P downgrades Italy’s credit rating

Standard & Poor’s cut Italy’s credit rating on the 20 September 2011 in a move that sent stock markets and the euro lower and underlined how the eurozone’s third-largest economy is being sucked deeper into the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. The agency named economic, fiscal and economic weaknesses as the reason for the downgrade.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reacted swiftly and angrily to the credit downgrade denouncing the move as divorced from reality and politically motivated.

Corriere della Sera, 21.9.11: Time to go, Silvio (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu//en/content/article/973611-time-go-silvio

Spiegel Online International, 21.9.11: Belligerent Berlusconi Toys With Europe http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,787545,00.html

Il Sole-24 Ore, 20.9.11: S&P downgrades Berlusconi (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu//en/content/news-brief-cover/968471-sp-downgrades-berlusconi

EUObserver, 20.9.11: Italian 'national consensus' urgent, says Brussels http://euobserver.com/19/113681

EurActiv, 20.9.11: Italy's credit rating cut worsens eurozone outlook http://www.euractiv.com/euro-finance/sp-cuts-italys-rating-worsening-growth-outlook-news-507767

Deutsche Welle, 20.9.11: Pressure grows on Greece, Italy hit by credit downgrade http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15400732,00.html

BBC News, 20.9.11: Italy's sovereign debt rating cut by S&P on growth fear http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14981718

France24, 20.9.11: Credit agency S&P downgrades Italy's rating http://www.france24.com/en/20110920-credit-agency-standard-poors-downgrades-italy-rating-debt-eurozone

Corriere della Sera, 20.9.11: S&P’s Surprise Downgrade for Italy http://www.corriere.it/International/english/articoli/2011/09/20/surprise-downgrade-for-italy.shtml

Spiegel Online International, 20.9.11: Berlusconi Furious at Standard & Poor's Rating http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,787324,00.html

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