As of last week, the eurozone no longer had a functioning sovereign bond market. The crisis has spread to France, whose bond spreads have approached Italian levels of six months ago. The unfortunate accident of Standard & Poor’s mistaken publication of a French ratings downgrade tells us that the rating agency is clearly preparing a downgrade. It merely pressed the button too early. The European financial stability facility, the fragile and undercapitalised construction on which Europe’s rescue strategy rests, is therefore also likely to lose its triple A rating. The prospect of a temporary return of sanity in Italian politics eased the pressure a little at the end of last week. But this does not change the depressing reality that the eurozone may be only weeks away from a financial collapse.
截止到上周，欧元区国债市场已全线瘫痪。法国与德国的国债息差已逼近6个月前意大利的息差水平，这表明欧元区主权债务危机已经蔓延到该国。标准普尔(Standard & Poor’s)误发法国信用评级遭下调消息的事件表明，标普显然已有此打算，只是过早按下了发送键。因此，欧洲金融稳定安排(EFSF)有可能也保不住它的AAA信用评级——眼下，欧洲整个纾困战略都仰仗着这个脆弱而资金不足的组织。上周末，意大利政界表现出有望暂时恢复理智，这多少缓解了市场的压力，但并未改变一个令人沮丧的现实：欧元区的金融体系几周后可能就会崩溃。