MARKETS / FINANCE

From the United States and Italy to Japan and Greece, slow growth is hobbling the capacity of governments to service their debts, spooking markets and sapping confidence and so further darkening the economic outlook.

France and Britain are most vulnerable within Europe to a rating review following the U.S. downgrade, with anemic growth and hefty borrowing placing them among the shakiest of the world's triple-A rated lenders.

Private equity firms are likely to dominate the auction for France Telecom's Swiss business, with Apax, EQT and Providence among those expected to take a look at the asset, banking sources said on Monday.

Announcements should be expected this morning about more knock-on effects to corporations from S&P's decision to downgrade the United States' credit rating, the head of Standard & Poor's sovereign ratings said on Monday.

Investors fled stocks on Monday in the first session since Standard & Poor's cut the United States' perfect AAA credit rating, reflecting growing discouragement about the economic outlook and Washington's ability to meet the challenges.

Gold vaulted to record highs above $1,700 an ounce on Monday, surging nearly 3 percent as European Central Bank's buying of Italian and Spanish bonds failed to ease debt fears after Standard & Poor's cut the top-notch AAA credit rating of the United States.

Stocks tumbled in heavy volume on Monday, with more than 1,000 stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange hitting 52-week lows, after rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the United States' perfect AAA credit rating, rattling already jittery investors.

Shares of major gold mining companies notched fresh gains in midday trading Monday as the price of the precious metal topped $1,700 per ounce.

Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service on Monday warned it might also downgrade the U.S. government's credit rating if its planned measures to reduce its budget deficit turned out to be not credible after all.

France and Britain are most vulnerable within Europe to a rating review following the U.S. downgrade, with anemic growth and hefty borrowing placing them among the shakiest of the world's triple-A rated lenders.

Stocks tumbled on Monday, the first session after rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the top-tier AAA credit rating of the United States, further unnerving already-skittish investors.

A first-ever debt downgrade of U.S. government bonds plus worries over contagion in Europe drive investors to the safety of gold.

The European Central Bank intervened dramatically in bond markets on Monday, backing up a verbal pledge to support Spain and Italy with action in an attempt to avert a financial meltdown in the euro zone.

The European Central Bank intervened dramatically in bond markets on Monday, backing up a verbal pledge to support Spain and Italy with action in an attempt to avert a financial meltdown in the euro zone.

Stocks tumbled on Monday, tracking a sharp drop in global equity markets after rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the top-tier AAA credit rating of the United States, rattling already-jittery investors.

Shares in reinsurer Transatlantic Holdings rose more than 8 percent on Monday despite broad and deep market declines, after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway made an unsolicited offer over the weekend to buy the company.

Wall Street was set to track a sharp drop in global equity markets on Monday after rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the top-tier AAA credit rating of the United States, rattling already-jittery investors.

The market's stance heading into the new week is one of caution, following S&P's stunning and controversial downgrade of the U.S. Government's credit rating. Essentially, Wall Street has to figure out if S&P was ahead of the curve, or was remarkably off-base in its analysis, and it's too soon to tell which view will prevail.

Global investors flock to precious metal as safe haven.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Monday that its check and card cashing service would accept more types of checks and take more forms of identification from shoppers in a move aimed at getting them to spend more at the discount chain's stores.

Stock index futures tracked a sharp drop in global equity markets on Monday after rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the top-tier AAA credit rating of the United States, rattling already-jittery investors.

Chinese state media on Monday blamed Washington's huge military spending and global footprint for the crisis that led to the U.S. debt rating downgrade, calling for an end to the foreign domineering dragging down its economy.

British data-center operator Telecity on Monday said it had bought Dublin-based Data Electronics Group for 87.6 million pounds ($143.5 million) making it the market leader in Ireland.

Britain and several euro zone countries are likely to have their credit ratings cut in coming months as debt problems worsen, and Western policymakers are bound to embark on more quantitative easing to get their economies moving, American investor Jim Rogers said on Monday.

Moody's Investors Service warned Japan that ineffective currency intervention would be negative for its sovereign ratings and would not help it restore its finances, even as G7 policymakers tried to show solidarity against market turmoil sparked by U.S. and European debt woes.

European governments will increase the size of the EU's emergency rescue fund if need be and are determined to follow through on a plan to contain a debt crisis, French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said on Monday.

World stocks racked up more losses on Monday on deep-rooted jitters about the U.S. ratings cut, but signs the European Central Bank was buying Italian and Spanish debt gave some respite to battered bond markets.

In the guessing game of which Asian sovereign credit will be downgraded next, after the United States this weekend, Japan is almost everyone's top pick, and not simply because its debt burden and messy politics are as bad if not worse than America's.

Italy and Spain's borrowing costs fell on Monday as reports filtered in that the European Central Bank was buying their bonds, lifting European shares and partly overcoming jitters about a rating downgrade for U.S. debt.