Europe thinks the unthinkable on Greece
BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - European officials are working on contingency plans in case Greece bombs out of the euro zone, the EU's trade commissioner said on Friday, while Berlin said it was prepared for all eventualities. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, one of Greece's harsher critics, said market turmoil fuelled by the euro zone debt crisis could last another year or two. "Regarding the crisis of confidence in the euro ... in 12 to 24 months we will see a calming of the financial markets," he said. ...
Oil prices lower ahead of G8 summit
Oil prices are lower ahead of a weekend meeting where leaders of the world's biggest economies will look for ways to help Europe resolve its debt crisis.
Can global leaders help Europe contain crisis?
When leaders from eight of the world's biggest economies meet this weekend outside Washington, the focus will be on how to prevent Europe's debt crisis from spiraling out of control.
Nasdaq falls 1 percent
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Thursday, with the Nasdaq down 1 percent and the S&P on track for a fifth straight day of declines as weak U.S. economic data spooked investors already concerned about the ongoing debt crisis in Europe. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 68.95 points, or 0.55 percent, to 12,529.60. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 9.28 points, or 0.70 percent, to 1,315.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 31.44 points, or 1.09 percent, to 2,842.60. (Reporting By Edward Krudy, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
Europe’s banks on the brink
LONDON, May 17 (IFR) - The euro zone crisis was in full swing when Jean-Claude Trichet took the podium in Berlin last October 6 for his final press conference as president of the European Central Bank. Having helped create one of the longest periods of price stability in the history of central banking, Trichet was closing out his eight-year reign under siege. Soaring oil prices had made a mockery of the bank's superlative record on inflation, while the worst recession on the continent since World War II had morphed into a full-scale sovereign debt crisis. ...
Cameron looks to shield Britain from euro break-up
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron will promise on Thursday to do whatever is needed to protect Britain's economy and banks from a break-up of the euro zone, and will urge leaders of the single currency bloc to "sort out its problems". Cameron's remarks, in a speech to business leaders in northwest England, are likely to irritate European leaders trying to keep the euro zone intact as Greece prepares for a new election and struggles to cope with its debt crisis. ...
Wall Street to slide, S&P 500 faces key test
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell sharply on Monday, tracking global equity markets lower as a political impasse in Greece heightened concerns about the Europe's debt crisis as the region struggles to avoid a deepening recession. Greece's political landscape has been in disarray for a week since an inconclusive election left parliament divided between supporters and opponents of the 130 billion euro ($168.3 billion) EU/IMF bailout, with neither side able to form a government. ...
Spain short-term debt costs to stay high after bank plan
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will pay high premiums to sell short-term debt on Monday, after the government's latest attempt to fix the banking sector failed to allay concerns about the burden of the clean-up on the country's finances. Addressing a problem which lies at the core of the euro zone debt crisis, Spain's government on Friday announced its second financial sector reform in three months to calm market fears that the financial system faced a deep capital hole. ...
Analysis: Spain faces corrosion not collapse from euro crisis
BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Students are protesting on Barcelona's elegant boulevards, public-sector wages are being cut for the second time in three years and resentment is growing against the central government and beneficiaries of bank bailouts. Such is the daily fallout from the euro zone's debt crisis. Like the rest of Spain, Barcelona is looking at several years of hard grind as the country adjusts to living within its means after the collapse of a debt-financed housing bubble that has brought much of the banking sector to its knees. ...
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