Standard & Poor��s late Friday delivered an anticipated downgrade of sovereign-debt ratings of several euro-zone nations late Friday, prompting a quick pullback in the European single currency.
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Several exchange-traded funds tracking the U.S. stock market tipped higher.
The euro EURUSD lost ground against the dollar following the ratings announcements but it soon rebounded to 1.2675 against the dollar. The dollar index DXY ?, which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six major rivals, rose to 81.51, slightly easing from a spike to 81.54. Read more on currencies.
S&P cut the triple-A ratings of France and Austria, and downgraded Spain, Italy, and Portugal. France and Austria are now both rated AA+, Spain is at A, and Italy is rated BBB+. Portugal��s rating was dropped to a junk grade of BB. Read more on downgrades.
The moves had been anticipated after the ratings agency placed 15 euro-zone countries on watch for possible downgrades in early December.
Late Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 Trust SPY ?, ! which tr acks the S&P 500 Index, rose 0.3% and the PowerShares QQQ Trust QQQ ?, which tracks the Nasdaq 100, rose 0.14%. Also, the Financial Select Sector SPDR XLF ?, which follows financial stocks in the S&P 500 Index SPX , rose 0.1%.
Stocks on the broader market fell in the regular session after reports that Standard & Poor��s was set to downgrade a number of sovereign ratings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA ? closed 49 points, or 0.4%, lower at 12,422.06. The S&P 500 Index SPX ?fell 0.5% to 1,289.09 and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP ?gave up 0.5% to 2,710.67. Read more on U.S. stocks.
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