The United Kingdom’s mounting pile of government IOUs toppled it from the list of countries holding the highest-rated credit today (Thursday), which resulted in Standard & Poor’s lowering its outlook on the United Kingdom’s debt to “negative” from “stable.”

Firm investment demand outweighs weak jewelery buying… Euro weakens on euro zone outlook… Oil prices tumble nearly 10 percent…

U.S., European stocks slide after dismal jobs report… Dollar falls to 7-week low vs yen, but rises vs euro… US government debt falls in face of historic low yields… Crude prices fall to lowest level in almost four years

Global stocks decline as gloomy economic news flow resumes… Euro zone services activity falls to a fresh record low… Central banks expected to cut rates aggressively… MSCI World stock index down 0.4 percent

Global stocks flat… Oil falls, trades around $53 a barrel…  Europe shares down 0.3 percent, Japan up 1.7 percent… Wall Street facing poor start… Dollar rebounds, bonds rise

As I said yesterday, I spent all last week touring Europe, and checking out the local investment scene. And as I traveled from Milan to Zurich, I found the same sort of dangers threatening the Eurozone that have plagued the U.S. economy since last summer.