Show Entire Article
European shares were called to open lower on Friday after Moody’s Investors Service cut the credit ratings of 15 of the world largest banks on Thursday, citing volatile market conditions and their continued exposure to the euro zone sovereign debt crisis.
The FTSE was called to open 47 points lower at 5519, the DAX was seen opening lower by 53 points at 6290 and the CAC 40 was expected to open lower by 24 points at 3090.
Credit Suisse, which last week was warned about weak capital levels by Switzerland's central bank, was the only bank in the group of 15 not to suffer a three-notch downgrade .
UBS was also expected to suffer a three notch downgrade but only saw its credit rating cut by two spots.
Other banks downgraded by two notches were: Barclays,BNPParibas, Royal BankofCanada, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Credit Agricole, and Deutsche Bank.
HSBC, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Scotland and Societe Generale had their credit ratings downgraded by one notch.
Morgan Stanley had its long-term debt rating lowered by just two notches, one level less than had been expected, sending its stock up sharply in after-hours trading on Wall Street.
Nomura and Macquarie were included in an original list of global banks under review, but have already been downgraded.
Page 1 of 3 | Next PageShow Entire Article
FR;CAC News & Analysis
DATA IS REAL-TIME EXCEPT NOTED WITH *
* DATA DELAYED AT LEAST 15 MINUTES