The big economies of Spain, Italy and even France are now looking increasingly shaky.
Spain’s problems are probably the most acute; the cost of borrowing is around seven per cent for Madrid at the moment and that is a psychologically important level as it is the level at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal needed international financial assistance.
Positive economic data spurs a rise in the stock indexes
Stocks rose on Thursday December 22nd putting the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index on the cusp of finishing out the year higher as another decline in jobless claims pointed to further improvement in the labor market.
Stocks had their best month in almost a decade, rising from their low point of the year in an almost uninterrupted four-week rally. The juice mostly came from Europe, which appeared to finally find a strategy for taming its debt crisis.
Bank fees: Every time you use your Bank of America debit card and don’t pay $5, thank Occupy Wall Street.
Changing the national conversation: Coming out of the summer, the economic debate in Washington was dominated by talk of cutting the deficit — not jobs, not the wealth disparity in America, and certainly not the role of money in politics.
Getting Wall Street’s attention: Perhaps even more impressive is how OWS has seeped into Wall Street’s own conversation. This is partly due to the early attention paid by a few influential financial bloggers, such as bank critic Barry Ritholtz. But bankers were clearly stung by the 1% tag and angered by suggestions they hadn’t earned their bonuses.
WASHINGTON — Discouraging economic data from around the globe have heightened fears that another recession is on the way.
Fresh evidence emerged Thursday that U.S. home sales and manufacturing are weakening. Signs also surfaced that European banks are increasingly burdened by the region’s debt crisis and sputtering economy.
The rising anxiety ignited a huge sell-off in stocks that led many investors to seek the safety of U.S. Treasurys.