Standard & Poor’s downgraded the France and Austria’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ yesterday . . . Spain was downgraded to A, Italy to BB+, and Portugal was slashed to the junk level of BB . . . Germany and Ireland were not downgraded . . . S&P had given 15 EU countries a negative outlook in December, a signal that they would likely be downgraded . . . the French downgrade could threaten the strength of the European Financial Stability Facility, the EU’s main bailout fund, because it could limit the amount of available AAA-rated bonds that are issued . . . the downgrade reflects fears that Paris is slipping into a recession.