Standard & Poor's placed 15 euro nations on review for a possible downgrade of their credit rating. Included in the review are Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg which all have AAA credit ratings, but could be cut by one notch.

Besides possibly losing their triple A rating, these nations may also be placed on a negative outlook, the rating agency hinted, depending on the result of a European Union leaders' summit scheduled on Dec 8-9.

"Systemic stress in the eurozone has risen in recent weeks and reached such a level that a review of all eurozone sovereign ratings is warranted," S&P said in a statement.

Following the warning, the euro reversed grains and U.S. Treasury bonds gained. The euro traded at $1.3401 at 5:01 p.m. in New York, down from $1.3487. Yields on the European Financial Stability Fund's (EFSF) 3.375 per cent bonds due in July 2021 went down by 2 basis points and ended a five-day rally, Bloomberg reported.

Analysts said that because of the weak euro currency, the U.S. market is the only true safe currency haven. They added that the EFSF is a great idea, but too late to be of much assistance.

In a bid to stop the crisis on its third year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are pushing for a rewrite of EU government rules that would tighten economic cooperation. The two leaders had submitted a common platform for the Dec. 8-9 gathering of EU leaders in Brussels.

Analysts added that if Germany and France would suffer a sovereign debt downgrade, the rating of the EFSF would be affected as well.

The French and German government said they recognise the move of S&P and stressed that the common proposals they put forward on Monday would strengthen coordination of budget and economic policy, and promote stability, competitiveness and growth.

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