G-20 Reach Compromise Deal On Imbalances

The world's dominant economies have reached a compromise deal on how to track imbalances in the global economy that have been blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Saturday.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 rich and developing countries managed to get China to agree on a list of yardsticks for imbalances, by softening the criteria for measuring current account surpluses.

ECB Emergency Lending Shows Crisis Not Over

By Simon Nixon

The news that emergency lending by the European Central Bank skyrocketed this week to its highest level in 19 months is an alarming reminder that the euro crisis is far from over. In my Agenda column in the European edition of the WSJ this week I cautioned that amid all the optimism at the prospects of a European “Grand Bargain”, there will be no end to the crisis unless E.U. leasers find a way to restore confidence in the banking system too. That means action on both bank solvency and liquidity.

EU’s Barroso Calls Permanent Debt-Crisis Plan ‘Indispensable’

European Commission President Jose Barroso called the euro area’s plan to create a permanent debt- crisis mechanism “indispensable” for financial stability in Europe.

He commented after the commission, the European Union’s executive arm, issued a favorable opinion of the decision by EU government leaders in December to amend the bloc’s treaty to establish a European Stability Mechanism in 2013 for countries that share the euro.

EU finance ministers meet over comprehensive solution to debt crisis

European Union (EU) finance ministers Monday continued at their monthly meeting discussion of a comprehensive solution to the sovereign debt crisis, but no final decisions are expected.

"Today with the euro group we will push forward with our discussion to arrive at a comprehensive package that causes the euro zone to be more stable and solves our problems," Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said after on arrival for the meeting.

ECB's Draghi - some sovereign spreads overshooting

Portuguese bond spreads over benchmark German Bunds soared to a euro-era high last week as a perceived lack of progress on reforms to tackle the euro zone debt crisis unnerved investors.

"There is an 'overshooting' effect now, an upwards exaggeration, just as there was an understatement before," Draghi told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.