(Image Source: Flickr/Adam Baker) 

BY HARUMENDHAH HELMY
ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA
 

It was a gloomy Friday the 13th in Europe. Standard and Poor’s downgraded nine countries’ credit ratings, saying European policymakers have not done enough to address the region’s debt crisis -- which could, in turn, get worse after the ratings cut. euronews has the summary.
 

“France and Austria have been stripped of their top-grade ‘AAA’ status. … Portugal, Italy, Spain and Cyprus have all gone down by two notches.”
 

And add Slovenia, Slovakia and Malta to that list. That’s nine out of 17 eurozone countries. Germany and the Netherlands are two major economies notably out of the downgraded list -- retaining their AAA status. (Graphic: The New York Times)
 

So what do these cuts mean? The New York Times explains, saying the downgrades add to the, quote “gloom pervading Europe’s economic climate.”
 

“...the downgrades may now add to the borrowing costs of the nations affected. Some commercial banks that are required to hold only the highest-rated government securities will have to replace French bonds with other assets, like bonds of Germany.”
 

It doesn’t end there. France is a major guarantor of the EFSF, an EU vehicle that provides financial help for eurozone countries in trouble. CNBC says a French downgrade could mean an EFSF downgrade... which would be bad, but not necessarily a death knell.
 

“That of course will then increase their borrowing cost, basically undermine the entire effort to stabilize the debt situation in Europe … But again, it’s only S&P, it’s only one notch...”
 

Not surprisingly, eurozone policymakers are not responding well to the S&P downgrade. One Al Jazeera reporter sums up much of their sentiment.
 

“It’s not really for a bunch of guys sitting in an office in New York, crunching numbers on screens to dictate government policies... to governments across Europe.”
 

Last August, S&P also downgraded the U.S.’s credit ratings by one notch -- from top-grade AAA to AA+. Though the stock market quickly plunged after that news, CNN notes -- it was a knee-jerk reaction, and things quickly looked up.
 

“You look at the U.S., it actually has rebounded pretty well after the downgrade, Brooke. And you look at interest rates, they’ve actually fallen since last summer.”
 

But, as the New York Times notes, the U.S. enjoys the title of the world’s largest economy, and none of the countries downgraded on Friday can say the same. Bond investors are still attracted to the U.S.’s debts, keeping the country’s interest rates low.