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Merry Christmas Portugal and Hungary.
Here's some some nice, nasty, costly coal for your stockings.
That's the essential holiday message from U.S.-based Fitch Ratings as it cut Portugal's debt rating by one level over concerns about its “financing environment” and banks, as well as the economy’s outlook. Fitch has been blamed by many economists for blowing-up the U.S.debt market with bogus bond and default swaps ratings.
Portugal's long-term foreign and local currency default rating was lowered to A+, the fifth-highest level, from AA-.
As for Hungary, Fitch downgraded it one step to BBB-.
As Economist Gyorgy Barta describes it: “We are now only a step away from the abyss.”
A government spokesman said: Fitch’s downgrade was "regrettable but unsurprising" and "failed to take into account" a plan to cut the debt level next year.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-23/hungary-debt-rating-is-cut-one-level-to-bbb-by-fitch-outlook-is-negative.html
