Ireland is Downgraded

As if the euro zone needed any more blows, Ireland has had its credit rating downgraded to AA- by Standard & Poor's rating agency.

Ireland's own credit rating agency saw S&P's downgrade and subsequent analysis of the Irish economy as incaccurate and exaggerated (with a huge deficit of GDP expected for 2010).

The euro currency itself actually jumped on the foreign exchange market, due to a report that showed German business confidence rose to unexpected highs in August.