BY DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS IN PARIS AND CHARLES FORELLE IN BRUSSELS

PARIS—France and eight other euro-zone countries suffered ratings downgrades on their sovereign debt Friday, sparking renewed global worries over Europe's ability to bail itself out of financial crisis.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services stripped triple-A ratings from France and Austria and downgraded seven others, including Spain, Italy and Portugal. It retained the triple-A rating on Europe's No. 1 economy, Germany.

The downgrade to France, the zone's second-largest economy, will make it harder—and potentially more expensive—for the euro zone's bailout fund to help troubled states, because the fund's own triple-A rating depends on those of its constituents. The downgrades also speak ...