After the euphoric initial reaction to the breakthrough reached by European leaders on Oct. 27 to save the euro zone, analysts are casting a more skeptical eye toward the deal while investors are showing renewed anxiety. The Stoxx Europe 600...
Read more »Euro Crisis Fix: Mounting Questions
Merkel Stamps Her Style on Europe’s Crisis Talks
Angela Merkel has stamped her particular style on the EU crisis debate. Her flair for negotiation and compromise is what you might expect from the head of a country that in 17 elections held since 1949 has never voted in...
Read more »
Not Even Your Life-Insurance Policy Is Safe
Europeans working now can’t win. Not only will many of them bail out the banks through their tax payments in years to come and work longer as the retirement age recedes. They will also foot the bill for insurers’ losses...
Read more »
Georges GobetAFP/Getty Images)
Silvio Berlusconi
Is Italy Too Far Gone?
What is wrong with Italy? In a few short months it has taken the place of Spain as the country that in many minds may spark the dreaded contagion from the Greek debt crisis. But it’s not as if Italy...
Read more »Reading From the Same News Sheet
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are said to be planning to meet bankers tonight in Brussels to negotiate the terms of a writedown on Greek debt, Bloomberg’s Helene Fouquet reports. This news of the meeting is...
Read more »Spain’s Businesses Are Hooked on Bank Loans
Europe’s banks have turned up the pressure on politicians in Brussels, saying a push to increase bank capital may limit their ability to lend to the region’s companies. The bankers know this message will get the attention of EU governments:...
Read more »
Press Association via AP Images
David Cameron speaks to the House of Commons
British Anti-EU Vote Hurts Cameron, Solidarity
It’s no secret that segments of Britain’s populace and political class have never reconciled themselves to being a part of the experiment in supranational government known as the European Union. The issue of whether Britain should even belong to the...
Read more »The Single German Market
Jean-Claude Trichet, in his last scheduled speech as ECB president on Oct. 24, was keen to point out there is a winner in the euro crisis from whom lessons must be learned. “Since the trough of mid-2009, German real GDP...
Read more »Where Are the Buyers?
UBS, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Credit Suisse all report third-quarter results over the next eight days. They will show again how much, or probably how little, banks have done to reduce their size. They will still show we have a...
Read more »Markets Like Weekend Summit Progress
I had Sunday roast yesterday with a friend who happens to be a hedge fund manager here in London. (Both he and his firm shall remain nameless to protect a private discussion.) I would characterize his level of pessimism about...
Read more »
