It is "inevitable" Italy will need an EU bailout in the next six months, according to analysts at the country's second largest bank.
GDP data published for Q4 2012 afforded a slightly better perspective on the year as a whole.
EU proposals to limit fund manager bonuses have been met by a withering reaction from the asset management industry.
The European Union has launched a competition to find the latest dangerous financial product, in an attempt to unearth the next mis-selling scandal.
Credit rating agency Moody's Investor Services has downgraded its rating of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - Europe's bailout fund - because of increased concerns over the financial health of France.
The UK could leave the European Union by this autumn should the eurozone debt crisis intensify further, it has been suggested in a study by Japanese bank Nomura.
Cazenove's chief investment officer (CIO) Richard Jeffrey delivers his verdict on how the threat of financial market meltdown is being used by all and sundry across Europe to get their own way.