Eurozone comes under pressure

LONDON: Mass eurozone ratings downgrades are unlikely to shake up investors too much, but with Greek debt talks at an impasse, pressure has been loaded on the bloc to shore up its defences and glimmers of optimism from last week have been firmly doused.

With the United States and Japan already downgraded from AAA, the likes of France and Austria are in good company and Standard & Poor's (S&P) ratings cuts had been flagged in December. Nonetheless, the upbeat tone that surrounded last week's strong Spanish bond auction now seems a distant memory.