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Europe Shares Extend Falls on S&P Downgrade Reports
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European shares extended falls on Friday, with euro zone banks lower after a senior euro zone government source said credit rating agency Standard & Poor's was set to downgrade several countries in the region.
The FTSEurofirst 300 [.FTEU3
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] index of top European shares closed lower.
S&P placed 15 euro-zone countries on negative credit watch on December 5. Triple-A rated France and Austria will be among the countries downgraded, according to media reports, while Germany and the Netherlands will keep their top rating.
In more bad news from the euro zone, private holders of Greek debt said Friday afternoon that they halted talks to reflect on whether the deal to restructure the country's troubled bonds should be kept voluntary.
The euro [EUR=X
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] tumbled to its lowest intra-day level since August 31, 2010 on the news.
Earlier in the day, Italy raised the maximum amount planned in its bond auction but could not match the same level of interest as Thursday's Spanish debt sale which sold twice the planned amount of bonds.
Traders said there were still underlying concerns about the euro zone, centered on Greece's debt swap deal. Italy faces a challenging funding task in 2012 and tougher five- and 10-year sales scheduled for Jan. 30.
Lower fourth quarter profit at JPMorgan Chase [JPM
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] in the United States showed the wide reach of the euro zone debt crisis and its impact on trading and corporate deal-making.
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Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
