It appears that the leprechauns are also on summer vacation, as the luck of the Irish ran a bit low, when S&P announced a downgrade of Irish long term debt from AA to -AA with a negative outlook.
According to a statement covered in Market Watch:
"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the rising budgetary cost of supporting the Irish financial sector will further weaken the government's fiscal flexibility over the medium term," said Trevor Cullinan, an S&P credit analyst, in a statement.
Upon reflection, I'll guess the announcement may not do much to upset the markets as it seems such a downgrade was more an issue of "when", rather than "if". What does bear keeping in mind, however, is the fact that Ireland was the first to "bite the bullet" and implement austerity measures such as are now being implemented by troubled EU nations such as Greece and Spain. And as I kick up various rocks in an effort to see what may scurry out from underneath, I can't help but wonder if we've heard the last from Dubai? The last I heard there are still ongoing "talks" about the restructuring of debts there.
Sources: Market Watch
Disclosure: No positions
