Now France's Rating May Be Cut

Is there no nation with sound credit? Standard & Poor's is now considering changing the outlook for France's triple-A rating to negative within the next 10 days, signaling a possible downgrade, the French financial newspaper La Tribune reported yesterday. France is the last cushion between crumbling European economies and bulwark Germany. S&P—which cut Belgium's credit rating last week—planned to make its announcement on France the same day, but mysteriously postponed it, notes Reuters. S&P spokesmen won't discuss the issue.

Fitch Ratings said last week that France's debt currently supports a triple-A rating, but warned that the euro zone's No. 2 economy would have little wiggle room to absorb new shocks without endangering that status. A downgrade would trigger a surge in the nation's borrowing costs, and a possible step closer to "eurogeddon." (More Standard & Poor's stories.)