Germany

Finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro as their currency met on Tuesday in yet another effort to avoid a financial collapse that could mean the end of the euro. The finance ministers are discussing a wide range of possible solutions to the current sovereign debt crisis. The...

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski made an unusual appeal to Germany in a desperate attempt to get Germany to do more to save the eurozone from collapse. The Polish foreign minister said that a eurozone collapse was the biggest threat to the security and prosperity of Poland and that...

Moody's Investors Service sounded the alarm early on Monday morning that the credit ratings of all members of the European Union were now at risk because of the financial crisis that has been escalating in Europe for more than a year. The ratings agency said that the financial crisis that has...

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...

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...

The Spanish government saw the yield on its 3 month bills more than double in its first debt auction since the People's Party defeated the outgoing Socialist Party in Sunday's election. The Spanish Treasury successfully raised nearly 3 billion euros ($4 billion) during the auction but the...

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...

Hardly a day passes without some news from Europe these days that could potentially move markets. Whether it's Greece backing down on a holding a referendum, Italy's Berlusconi finally resigning, or EFSF buying its own bond due to lack of demand, there's no shortage of drama for the saga....

Back in July, I wrote about the debt dominoes starting to fall, but no one was caring that much. The article related to the problems in the U.S., where we eventually saw S&P downgrade U.S. debt. Yet, the issue of a debt domino is easily just as applicable to Europe as well. Last week, when...

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...

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...