Eurozone

Germany is denying reports that Germany, France and four other Eurozone members with triple A credit ratings are reportedly considering issuing "Elite Bonds". According to German magazine Die Welt, the governments of Germany, France, Austria, Finland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have discussed...

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the European Union needs to quickly enact treaty changes in order to better deal with the eurozone financial crisis. The German Finance Minister said that a treaty change was needed so that the European Union could have veto power over the budgets of...

As the statement goes, hope is not a valid investment thesis. Yet, that appeared to be the case on Friday morning. Markets in the US traded higher on Friday—at one point, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 100 points. The financials enjoyed strong bullish activity, rallying the most of...

After several months of rising consumer prices, Japan's core consumer price index fell by 0.1% in October, a sign that the country might continue to suffer through deflation. Although the Japanese government blamed the fall in prices on a cigarette tax and insurance premiums that were introduced...

While the financial media was focusing on the continuing issues in the Eurozone, the importance of poor data coming from China was somewhat lost in the mix. Although it was never outright ignored, it was often added merely as an afterthought on Wednesday. The deterioration of Europe is no doubt a...

Things are tough for retirees. Many may have lost a significant portion of their savings in the stock market crash of 2008. Even worse, most of those investors may have been too fearful to re-enter the market—numbers show that many retail investors still have not returned—and thereby missed out on...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday resisted calls to introduce bonds issued jointly by all eurozone member states. The so-called eurobonds would likely drive down borrowing costs for troubled eurozone members like Greece, Italy and Spain but if that were to happen, logic dictates that...

Tensions are rising in Germany and the United Kingdom due to a Friday meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron. The two European Union leaders are scheduled to meet today to discuss issues surrounding the European financial crisis. Prime Minister...

On Thursday afternoon the equity markets and some commodities cratered. Silver was absolutely pummeled, dropping nearly 7% while Treasuries rallied. Trouble emanating from Europe may have been the primary catalyst behind the downward move, as the yields on bonds in Italy and Spain continued to...

On Tuesday's episode of Mad Money (after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 102 points), Jim Cramer discussed the contradictory state of the markets that investors are currently facing. Cramer: "When we try to rationalize what the heck is going on by looking at all the various...

With the uncertain fate of the Eurozone in the news recently, I thought it would be interesting to discuss some interesting parallels between Europe and the United States of America. Where the thought of a "United States of Europe" may continue to sound like a fantasy, I think it is interesting...

Rebel MPs from the United Kingdom's Conservative party have decided to force a vote on the United Kingdom's European Union membership. Many British politicians are unhappy with the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union and see the eurozone financial crisis as an opportunity to...

France was warned for the second time this week by a major credit rating agency that its valuable triple-A credit rating could be downgraded in the near future. Standard & Poor's was the latest credit rating agency to say that the eurozone's second biggest economy was in danger of being...

Eurozone optimists were dealt another blow when Moody's Investors Service downgraded Spain's credit rating two notches. Moody's lowered Spain's debt rating to A1, down from the previous rating of Aa2. The Spanish downgrade will hurt Spain's ability to raise funds because the lower credit rating...

Moody's Investors Service dropped a bombshell on the markets late on Monday when the credit rating agency said that it will "monitor and assess” France's Aaa credit rating. The markets have reacted negatively to much of the recent news out of Europe. The possibility of a downgrade to France's...