Moody’s downgrade of six EU countries goes unnoticed

In normal circumstances, if a major credit rating firm like Moody’s downgraded six European Union countries in a row, that would likely set markets tumblings all over the world. That would be especially true if notice of the downgrades included warnings about top-rated Britain, France and Austria. But that is not what’s happening just one day after Moody’s adjusted the sovereign debt ratings of Italy, Portugal, Spain, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia downward, and warned that it could remove the triple-A rating from the UK, France and Austria soon. The Moody’s downgrade on Monday night did not shake markets that were otherwise buoyed by news that Greek lawmakers had approved a package of austerity measures, paving the way for a $172 billion (U.S.) bailout.