Brazil financial markets fall after S&P downgrades sovereign debt to junk status

Visitors look at stock price monitors inside the BM&F BOVESPA stock exchange headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015. Brazil's financial markets fell Thursday in the aftermath of credit agency Standard & Poor's downgrading the country's sovereign debt to “junk” status. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) (The Associated Press)

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Unemployed residents wait in line at a government job center in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015. Brazil's financial markets fell Thursday in the aftermath of credit agency Standard & Poor's downgrading the country's sovereign debt to “junk” status. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) (The Associated Press)

Unemployed residents visit a government-run job center in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015. Brazil's financial markets fell Thursday in the aftermath of credit agency Standard & Poor's downgrading the country's sovereign debt to “junk” status. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) (The Associated Press)

SAO PAULO – Brazil's financial markets has fallen in the aftermath of credit agency Standard & Poor's downgrading the country's sovereign debt to "junk" status.

The Brazilian real fell 2 percent to 3.88 per U.S. dollar by early Thursday afternoon and it would have dropped even further if the Central Bank hadn't intervened by selling some $1.5 billion on the spot market.

The benchmark Bovespa stock index was down 1.24 percent.

President Dilma Rousseff met in the morning with members of her cabinet and congressional leaders to discuss the downgrade and said it wasn't a catastrophic event.

Citing presidential advisers, the Folha d S. Paulo newspaper says Rousseff urged them to cut public spending.