Euro, Asian Stocks Fall on Debt Concern

The euro weakened against most of its major peers, Asian stocks dropped to a 15-month low, while U.S. futures and oil pared gains amid concern European policy makers will struggle to contain the region’s crisis.

Europe’s shared currency dropped 0.7 percent to 102.64 yen at 11:28 a.m. in Tokyo and slid 0.5 percent to $1.3433. The New Zealand dollar weakened for a sixth day and the won slumped 1.6 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.8 percent and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank 1.6 percent after Japan’s markets resumed after a holiday. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures rose 0.6 percent, paring gains of as much as 1.3 percent. Oil was little changed in New York and gold dropped a fourth day.

Banks Splinter on Europe Crisis as Tension Pervades Meetings

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street leaders, urging coordinated action from world governments to solve the European sovereign-debt crisis, struggled themselves during four days of meetings in Washington to agree on what’s needed to end it.

The chiefs of firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Societe Generale SA met for three hours at the National Archives on Sept. 23. They differed on which government and private solutions may restore confidence in European debt and banks, and on some elements of regulation, said two participants who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting wasn’t public.

Europe's Debt Crisis Casts Cloud Over U.S. Economy

With all the worry over the ailing U.S. economy, Europe's debt crisis may have seemed a long way off.

But not anymore. The faint tinkle of alarm bells a few months ago are now clanging loudly. What began as a crisis in smaller countries, like Greece, Portugal and Ireland, is now creating serious issues in much larger economies like Italy, France and Germany.

Sarkozy told Obama euro zone to end crisis: source

French President Nicolas Sarkozy assured U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday the euro zone intends to resolve the euro crisis and support Greece, a French presidential source said.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, added the two leaders, who met in New York on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly session, also discussed the idea of including the Chinese yuan in the International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights (SDRs).

European stocks fall on Greek crisis

LONDON — European equities and the euro fell on Wednesday on fresh concerns over banks' exposure to indebted Greece, but losses were capped by expectations of more stimulus measures from the US Federal Reserve.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares slid 0.37 percent to 5,344.07 points in midday deals, Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.98 percent to 5,517.05 points and in Paris the CAC 40 dropped 0.87 percent to 2,958.16.