NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--U.S. stocks were ahead but off session highs Monday afternoon after a Financial Times report claiming that Standard & Poor's warned six triple A-rated euro-zone members that they may suffer ratings downgrades as a result of the deepening sovereign-debt crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74 points, or 0.6%, to 12094 in afternoon trading, after being ahead by triple-digits for most of the session. The S&P 500 gained 13, or 1%, to 1257. The Nasdaq Composite added 30, or 1.2%, to 2657.
The report said that the U.S. ratings agency is poised to announce later in the day that it is putting Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg on "creditwatch negative," which signals the chance of a downgrade within 90 days.
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