There's a good chance France and a few other euro area governments will have their credit ratings downgraded in the near future. That would mark another low point in Europe's long-running debt crisis, but it may not shock the markets. "The downgrades are likely to come sooner rather than later," said Ewen Cameron Watt, chief investment strategist for the BlackRock Investment Institute. "But we believe bond markets have largely factored them in for countries such as France, Italy and Spain." While the bond market may be prepared, the immediate response could be less sanguine in the stock market, where investors have ... (full story)