Steinbrueck Says Merkel Misleading Voters on Euro Debt Crisis

German chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrueck criticized Angela Merkel for misleading voters over the true cost of the European debt crisis, saying he’ll be upfront about the policy decisions needed after fall elections.

Italy’s Rating Cut by Fitch as Election Threatens Gridlock

Italy’s credit rating was cut one level by Fitch Ratings as an inconclusive election in February produced political paralysis that threatens the country’s ability to respond to a recession and the European debt crisis.

IMF sees up to 9.5 bilion euro Greek funding gap in 2015-2016

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund on Friday estimated that Greece faced a financing gap of between 5.5 billion and 9.5 billion euros for 2015 and 2016 and said it had assurances from Europe the aid would be forthcoming for Athens in the final years of its international bailout.

Danish Euro Skepticism at Highest Since Currency’s 1999 Debut

Danish voters now regard the euro with more scepticism than at any time since the single currency’s introduction in 1999 as the crisis in southern Europe enters its fourth year.

IMF chief urges action in tackling euro crisis

TOKYO (AP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund on Thursday called for urgent action to tackle Europe's debt problems and an approaching fiscal crisis in the U.S., warning that the struggling world economy is already falling short of even pessimistic expectations.

Moody's puts European Union on notice

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Moody's put the European Union on notice Monday that its top-notch Aaa rating is at risk of downgrade, cutting the outlook on the EU's creditworthiness to "negative" from "stable" because of the continent's ongoing debt crisis.

Eurozone crisis causes aid cuts to poor, report says

The European debt crisis has led to cuts in government development aid to poor countries, says a new report by the aid watchdog Data. It is the first significant reduction in Europe-wide aid budgets for a decade.

Euro Leaders Seek Global Help After Firewall Boosted

Efforts to resolve the two-year-old European debt crisis swung back to world leaders after euro-area policy makers boosted a firewall designed to overcome doubts about their crisis response and to lure additional emergency aid.

U.S. Economy Will Trump Europe In 2012

If there’s one good thing that’s come out of the European debt crisis it’s that the U.S. has been able to shield itself from much of the mess.

Swedish firms want to adopt the euro

Swedish companies, relatively unscathed by the European debt crisis, dislike the Swedish economic model's inertia, want reforms to boost their competitiveness, and want to adopt the euro, their representatives say.

Dollar Falls as Signs of Manufacturing Growth Damp Safety Demand

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell the most in two weeks against the euro as signs that manufacturing is expanding in the U.S. and China damped demand for haven assets.

Obama heads to G-20 amid questions on Greece

The U.S. has an important role to play in helping guide Europe through its financial crisis, but it is ultimately Europe's problem to solve, the White House said Wednesday as President Barack Obama readied for an economic summit in France.

Euro crisis: three perspectives

WASHINGTON D.C. (CNNMoney) -- George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist, warned Saturday that failing to resolve the sovereign debt crisis in Europe could lead to a "real meltdown" of the global financial system.

His remarks came while on a panel with Olli Rehn, the top economic and monetary official at the European Commission, and Gao Xiqing, the head of China's sovereign wealth fund, who also commented on the debt crisis in Europe.

Merkel’s Efforts in Euro Crisis Complicated by Berlin Vote

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party held its own in the closely watched Berlin regional election on Sunday. But her junior coalition partner is now in a political free fall, complicating her fight to contain the European debt crisis despite the infighting within her bloc.

As expected, Berlin’s popular mayor, Klaus Wowereit of the center-left Social Democrats, secured a third term, and his party received the most votes on Sunday for the Berlin city-state legislature with 28.3 percent, according to preliminary official results. That was down slightly from the 30.8 percent the party won in the previous election in 2006.

Euro-crisis continues to weigh on City

By Peter Ranscombe

FEARS over Germany's credit rating dragged down shares across Europe yesterday, wiping out early rises in London as worries over the European debt crisis began to re-emerge.

All three of the major credit ratings agencies denied rumours of a possible downgrade of Europe's powerhouse economy but that didn't stop Germany's Dax index losing 4 per cent in just 15 minutes.

Eurozone crisis fears continue as Italy forced to pay higher rates to borrow

The Italian government was forced to pay the highest borrowing costs for 11 years in a bond auction that underscored market fears that a new phase of the European debt crisis is set to be unleashed.

Italy successfully sold €2.7bn (£2.4bn) of 10-year bonds but only after yields had soared to 5.77pc – compared to 4.94pc at the last auction a month ago. Traders argued that last week's €159bn Greek bail-out was not enough to prevent contagion to the bigger European economies.

Can Europe escape the debt trap? Yes – and here's how

Financial markets have successfully demanded the imposition of severe austerity on the periphery of the eurozone – Greece, Ireland and Portugal – to deal with public debt. The markets have also raised concerns about it in the United States, Britain and Japan, clamouring for austerity. Public debt seems to operate like a mask behind which lies a shadowy world of creditors to whose upkeep entire economies are mortgaged.

Is EMU Debt Crisis Morphing Into a Euro-Positive Force?

We argue that a key driver lifting the euro has been the divergent monetary policies of the Federal Reserve and the ECB. When investors perceive the European debt crisis becoming acute, it has eclipsed the main driver and weighed on the euro episodically in recent months. However, the increased speculation (and therefore risk) that Greece restructures its debt may be transforming the debt crisis into a more immediately euro-positive direction.

The euro crisis, Italy and its playful premier

In Las Vegas they call the really big gamblers – the ones whose fortunes can make or break a casino – the “whales”. For the European Union, Italy is the whale – the country whose economy and debts are so large that the fate of the single currency and the EU itself hang on its future.