Investors are now paying to hold European Financial Stability Facility debt, after six-month t-bills sold at a negative yield at auction for the first time ever.
With banks hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, Joanna Faith asks financials managers whether the recent volatility has provided a good buying opportunity or whether there is better value elsewhere.
Invesco Perpetual's Stephanie Butcher has moved overweight Spain and added names from Ireland and Portugal to the European Equity Income fund, taking the view stocks are "too cheap" and investors are over-paying for core, defensive names.
The Republic of Ireland has returned to the capital markets for the first since it received an international bailout in 2010.
Franklin Templeton's Michael Hasenstab has said there will be no Armageddon in the eurozone, and urged investors to take advantage of short-term market inefficiencies.
Niall Gallagher, European equities manager at GAM, has found value in unloved peripheral European equities overlooked by risk-averse investors.
The single currency strengthened against the dollar today as Spain was granted a €100bn EU and IMF bailout to prop up its banking sector.
Ireland fell back into recession in the last quarter of 2011, according to official figures released on Thursday.