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S&P Downgrades Spain, Citing Region Backtracking on Bank
By Angeline Benoit and Ian Katz - Oct 11, 2012 6:30 AM ET
Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg

Spain’s debt rating was cut to one level above junk by Standard & Poor’s, which cited euro-region peers’ backtracking on a pledge to severe the link between the sovereign and its banks as it considers a second bailout.

The country was lowered two levels to BBB- from BBB+, New York-based S&P said in a statement yesterday. S&P assigned a negative outlook to the nation’s long-term rating and lowered the short-term sovereign level to A-3 from A-2.
The downgrade comes after Spain announced a fifth austerity package in less than a year and published details about stress tests of its banks. Creditworthiness concerns have grown since the government requested as much as 100 billion euros ($129 billion) in European Union aid in June to shore up its lenders and amid signals that the deficit target is in jeopardy.........................>>>>.......................>>>>......................http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....by-s-p-on-risks.html