Greece Debt, Europe Debt Crisis | featured news

Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on Greece three notches on its expectations of the likelihood of one or more defaults over the next 12 months.

The European Central Bank said on Thursday it opposed forcing private creditors to take part in debt relief for Greece, pushing back against Germany, which has demanded a bond swap to lengthen Greek debt maturities.

Bleak EU economic forecasts on Friday showed Greece will miss its debt targets this year without further reforms and a senior policymaker said Athens was not meeting the terms of its rescue package.

Speculation is growing that Greece may need a second financial bail-out from the international community

A Moody's downgrade and growing speculation Greece may eventually restructure its debt took the shine off Ireland's thumbs-up from the EU and the IMF on Friday for its efforts to claw its way back from crisis.

European debt problems sent another wave of pessimism through the markets.

The move by Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday deepened Europe’s debt crisis, and investors sold off government bonds amid fears of a default.