S&P Cuts Greece Credit Rating, Outlook Is 'negative'

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Wednesday cut Greece's long-term credit rating to CCC-plus from B-minus, warning that without "deep economic reform" or further relief, the country's debt load and other financial commitments will be unsustainable. Greece's biggest hurdle remains its negotiations with international creditors, the ratings firm said. S&P said a missed payment to an official creditor wouldn't constitute a trigger to lower Greece's rating to "SD," or selective default, but would probably constitute a "negative factor" in S&P's analysis. S&P said its outlook for Greece is "negative," meaning that it could lower its rating "within a year if we perceived that the likelihood of a distressed exchange of Greece's commercial debt had increased further."