S&P downgrades eurozone bailout fund to AA+

Rating agency Standard & Poor's said it has downgraded the credit-worthiness of the eurozone's bailout fund by one notch to AA+.

The downgrade, which follows ratings cuts for AAA-rated France and Austria , could hurt the European Financial Stability Facility's ability to raise cheap bailout money.

While most euro countries guarantee the bonds issued by the EFSF, its rating depends on the AAA-countries. The remaining four do not make up enough guarantees to secure the fund's 440 billion lending capacity.

S&P said it could upgrade the EFSF back to AAA, if the eurozone offers new credit enhancements.