Eurozone

HAVE RISK ASSETS TAKEN FLIGHT?

Jean Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, has defended yesterday's 25 basis point hike in interest rates as good for the eurozone, as EU leaders prepare for talks on the bailout of Portugal.

The end of the sovereign debt crisis in peripheral Europe may be in sight despite continued negative newsflow from the region, several managers claim.

Eurozone rescue funds amounting to €500bn will not be enough to meet the financing needs of Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Italy in 2011-2013, Cazenove Capital Management's Peter Harvey says.

‘Idiotic' and ‘gratifying', are not adjectives commonly applied to financial markets, but they have been used recently to describe the state of FX rates.

THE FUTURE OF EMU

European leaders have agreed on a revised bailout package, creating a permanent fund to resolve the debt crisis in the eurozone.

IS PORTUGAL NEXT?

Eurozone leaders in Brussels have come to a ‘in principle' agreement on economic policy, designed to rescue Europe from its debt crisis, European Union President Herman Van Rompuy has announced.

A permanent €500bn (£420.3bn) bail-out fund has been set up to support countries in the eurozone.