The European markets rose on Tuesday after Standard & Poor's affirmed its credit ratings on Greece's debt.

S&P affirmed Greece's BBB+ long-term and A-2 short-term sovereign credit ratings and took them off credit watch with negative implications but the outlook is negative from stable. "We view the Greek government's total package of deficit reduction measures as appropriate to achieve its 2010 fiscal target, given the deterioration in Greece's growth prospects," the rating agency said in a statement.

The U.S. Commerce Department said in its report that housing starts fell 5.9% to an annual rate of 575,000 in February from the revised January estimate of 611,000. Economists had expected housing starts to fall to 570,000 from the 591,000 originally reported for the previous month.

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By Catherine

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