European Debt Crisis

The S&P 500 hit a new all-time high on Monday, and the NASDAQ is trading at the best level in 13 years. Both indices are in the midst of a strong bull market -- but there are other countries around the world also doing well, that are often overlooked by investors. The iShares MSCI Denmark...

Global service PMIs were released overnight with weakness in China and the eurozone weighing on markets around the world. A slower pace of expansion in China's service sector increased fears of a China hard landing while a weaker than expected reading in the eurozone coupled with a flare up of...

Greece's government is failing to make the cuts to get its next bailout payment. A key Italian politician faces jail time for having sex with and refusing to pay an underage prostitute. Portugal's government is on the verge of collapsing, risking the sustainability of its bailout reforms. And...

The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Spain fell for the fourth month in a row in June as the country, fighting an unemployment crisis that has seen unemployment rise above 25 percent, has seen some relative improvement in the economy over the past few months. For June, the number...

European bailouts: investors are sick of them. Every six months or so, the European debt crisis seems to move from country to country in what can only be described as a period of rolling crises. As an interesting thought exercise, consider what a portfolio of the bailed out countries would look...

Greece... recent memory brings only thoughts of severe depression, massive fiscal fraud and spiraling debt loads. Throw in an IMF bailout that nearly failed (twice) and a political system keen on electing neo-Nazis and the equation does not necessarily lead to a rosy economic outcome. Forget...

Euro strength a problem? Not any more, as the euro reversed weeks of gains against the dollar as the EUR/USD declined back below 1.34 for the first time since January 25. Further, the chart for the pair is anything but rosy and should the fundamentals not change much, the pair looks set to fall...

Futures Rise After Monday Losses U.S. equity futures rose in pre-market trading after U.S. and global markets suffered losses Monday on the back of renewed sovereign stresses in the eurozone. However, the repricing of the sovereign and geopolitical risk halted Tuesday and shares rose. Top News In...

Late Tuesday, reports surfaced that the Bundesbank was preparing a lawsuit against the European Central Bank claiming that the ECB is violating its mandate in launching the latest round of bond purchases, known as the Outright Monetary Transactions. Unlike the Federal Reserve, which has a dual...

As Greece continues to slip further into depression, complete with massive unemployment, a credit crunch, and loss of economic confidence, it seems as though the ECB has started to implement a backdoor bailout of the European nation. Greece has a $3.7 billion maturing bond on August 20, so if...

French yields stayed at ultra-low levels as France auctioned debt Monday. The nation saw its debt yields remain negative on all three auctioned maturities: three, six and twelve months. An apparent flight to safety was seen at the auction. The yield on the 3-month bills remained at a record low -0...

The Republic of Ireland returned to long-term sovereign debt markets Thursday with an auction of 5-year bonds. Ireland's National Treasury Management Agency announced the sale of a 5-year bond at an interest rate of 5.9 per cent and opened its existing 8-year bond maturing in 2020 to new investors...

Spanish bonds rallied and yields fell on comments from ECB President Mario Draghi indicating that the ECB is ready to act further. Investors took this as a sign that the bank is ready to start buying bonds of peripheral nations that disrupt the "efficient transmission of monetary policy," as former...