Europe, Credit Rating | featured news

Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on Greece three notches on its expectations of the likelihood of one or more defaults over the next 12 months.

Moody's slashed Greece's credit rating by three notches on Monday, raising the specter that the distressed euro zone sovereign may be forced to restructure its debt, perhaps even before 2013.

Portugal was put on notice on Tuesday that its credit rating could be cut and fellow euro zone debtor Spain had to pay more to issue new debt, suggesting the currency bloc's crisis will rage unabated in 2011.

Moody's put Spain's Aaa credit rating on review for a possible downgrade because of flagging economic prospects, challenging fiscal targets and rising funding costs.