Moody's downgrades Italy to Baa2 from A3, maintains negative outlook
Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded Italy's government bond rating to Baa2 from A3. The outlook remains negative. Italy's Prime-2 short-term rating has not changed. The decision to downgrade Italy's rating reflects the following key factors: 1. Italy is more likely to experience a further sharp increase in its funding costs or the loss of market access than at the time of our rating action five months ago due to increasingly fragile market confidence, contagion risk emanating from Greece and Spain and signs of an eroding non-domestic investor base. The risk of a Greek exit from the euro ...