SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The debt crisis is threatening Germany's top credit rating. Moody's changed its outlook for Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to negative from stable late on Monday. The German Finance Ministry said the country would remain an anchor of stability in the 17-nation euro zone.
Moody's Investors Service on Monday cut its outlook for Germany's creditworthiness to "negative" from "stable," but confirmed the country's triple-A rating.
Moody's also cut its outlook for the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which also have triple-A ratings, to negative from stable. Finland kept its stable outlook.
The ratings agency said the move was due to growing uncertainty caused by the debt crisis.
It said there was an increased chance that Greece could leave the euro zone, which "would set off a chain of financial sector shocks ... that policymakers could only contain at a very high cost."
It also warned that Germany and other countries rated AAA might have to increase support for ailing countries such as Spain and Italy. The burden of that support would fall most heavily on the euro zone's top-rated states, it said. » | cro -- with wire reports | Tuesday, July 24, 2012
