Greek Default Would Damage Other Euro Zone Members: Moody's

Intense scrutiny over Greece's public finances hasn't loosened in recent days, and a new report by Moody's Analytics indicates that a debt default would be particularly damaging. "Moody's believes that a default is likely to have adverse credit rating implications for Greece, possibly some other stressed European sovereigns, and the Greek banks, regardless of the efforts made to achieve an 'orderly' outcome," it said in a statement. "As for other stressed European sovereigns, Moody's believes that their ratings will invariably be affected, regardless of the myriad forms that a default by Greece could take." European markets slipped considerably on Monday, as investors grew increasingly weary of the Euro bloc's outlook. Some even began to speculate about the possibility of Greek default, which would clearly be a difficult pill for the global economy to swallow. "This would in turn lead to increasingly polarized sovereign ratings in Europe, with stronger countries retaining high or very high ratings, and weaker countries struggling to remain in investment grade." To assuage jittery markets, Greece announced on Monday six billion euros worth of new, emergency fiscal measures. The move was seen as an attempt to lessen its current budget gap and prove creditworthiness. Moody's highlighted the need to enable stability. "The longer the current state of uncertainty affecting Greece persists, the greater the temptation on the part of both the Greek and the euro area authorities to try to undertake some form of debt restructuring," Moody's said.