Same Ol' Europe: France Loses AAA Rating, Debt Talks in Greece Stopped (Still Debt Talks!?)

Apparently, some big hedge funds wanted out of the deal with Greece because they now do not wnat to lose any money at all, i.e, no voluntary 40% cut. I guess they'd expect that now that European banks have nearly free money. They expect who to pay exactly? Mind-boggling.

Shocking!  (Yet not surprising lately).

Bloomberg reports that France was downgraded  by Standard & Poor’s and lost is AAA rating.
"France’s AAA rating will fall by one level at S&P, Finance Minister Francois Baroin told France 2 television today. Slovakia, Italy and Austria are among other countries to be downgraded, European officials said. Germany will keep its top rating, a person familiar with the matter said. S&P may release its report at about 9 p.m. Brussels time.

The decisions came at the end of a week in which signs grew that Europe’s woes may be cresting as borrowing costs fell, evidence of economic resilience emerged and the European Central Bank said it had quelled a credit crunch at banks. The immediate impact on French and Italian borrowing costs was limited, with the yield on 10-year government bonds rising 3 basis points and 1 basis point, respectively".