Hungary downgraded to junk status

Moody's cut its foreign and local currency bond ratings to Ba1, the highest junk-level score, from Baa3. The ratings agency, which awarded Hungary its investment grade in 1996, assigned a negative outlook. Hungary is rated the lowest investment grade at Standard & Poor's and Fitch, according to Bloomberg. The downgrade comes after Hungary last week asked the IMF for a credit line to help stabilise its finances. Although its net debt to GDP is around 85% - well below countries such as Italy and Greece - it has the highest debt pile of all the eastern bloc European nations. Moo...