News Summary: Spain rates soar on downgrade

Portugal is poised to quickly follow Greece into the default abyss following a debt downgrade to junk status by the S&P on Friday. The Wall Street Journal reports Portugal's Bond Yields Rise Sharply After Rating Cut To Junk Portuguese borrowing costs rose sharply Monday as some investors were forced to sell their government bond holdings after Standard and Poor's Corp. downgraded the country to junk status late Friday.

Spain has successfully sold euro5.4 billion ($7.16 billion) in short-term debt with strong demand and interest rates down despite the country's latest credit rating downgrade.Ratings agency Moody's cut ...

Edward Hugh submits: Last Thursday Moody's Investor Service cut Spain's Sovereign credit - to Aa1 from AAA - thus removing the last of the country's highly-valued triple-A ratings. The move really surprised no one - in this case the Moody's rating could be regarded as a lagging indicator on the health of Spain's finances - since the two other "majors" (S&Ps and Fitch) had long taken the decision, and the market predictably shrugged off the news, as if to say "what else is new".

AP - The Moody's rating agency has downgraded Greece's local and foreign currency bond ratings deeper into junk status, citing an increased risk that the country will be able to handle its debt problems without an eventual restructuring.