Rating warning could be a blessing in disguise, says Schaeuble

MARKETS were subdued yesterday, following credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s threat to downgrade 15 eurozone countries and the triple-A rated bailout fund, the EFSF.

Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the S&P threat could actually be a blessing in disguise, as it should offer further encouragement to Europe’s policymakers to expedite a solution to the ongoing debt crisis at the upcoming EU summit in Brussels.

Germany’s DAX index, in Frankfurt, was down by 1.3%, the Paris-based CAC fell 0.68% and the FTSE rose slightly.

In earlier trading, the Asian heavyweights of the Nikkei in Tokyo and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed down by 1.39% and 1.24%. Australia’s ASX shed nearly 1.4% .

In Dublin, the ISEQ was down 0.65% to 2,746 points; with good gains for the likes of Datalex, Elan, Dragon Oil, Aryzta and Greencore.

In the US, the Dow Jones rose 0.43% and the Nasdaq fell 0.23%.