InfoAnda - Euro zone crisis reaches France, turns existential |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Taiwan's legislature approves China trade pact | 18 August 2010
Malawi President Mutharika dead: government sources | | 6 April 2012
Putin extends Russian defence ministry reshuffle | | 16 November 2012

HTC unveils 5 smartphone models | | 16 February 2011

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Euro zone crisis reaches France, turns existential |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Green Business Legal Deals Earnings Summits Business Video Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia Afghan Journal Africa Journal India Insight Global News Journal Pakistan: Now or Never? World Video Politics Politics Home Front Row Washington Politics Video Technology Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland Felix Salmon Breakingviews George Chen Bernd Debusmann Gregg Easterbrook James Pethokoukis James Saft John Wasik Christopher Whalen Ian Bremmer Mohamed El-Erian Lawrence Summers The Great Debate Unstructured Finance Newsmaker MuniLand Money Money Home Analyst Research Global Investing MuniLand Reuters Money Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Life & Culture Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Left Field Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Article Comments (0) Slideshow Full Focus Editor's choice A selection of our top photos from the past 24 hours. Full Article Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Verizon gets picket injunctions in 3 states, seeks more 11 Aug 2011 Wall St rises, S&P seeking second winning day | 10:48am EDT Former judge sentenced to prison for "kids for cash" scheme 11 Aug 2011 "Chaos reigns" as courts struggle to process UK rioters 11 Aug 2011 Euro zone crisis reaches France, turns existential 10:53am EDT Discussed 184 U.S. loses AAA credit rating from S&P 176 Obama says he inherited economic problems 107 Stock index futures tumble on S&P downgrade Watched Japan's tsunami broke off a piece of Antarctica Wed, Aug 10 2011 Underwater volcano erupts off Oregon coast Wed, Aug 10 2011 New face of U.S. woman mauled by chimp Thu, Aug 11 2011 Euro zone crisis reaches France, turns existential Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Short bets ban boosts Europe 11:12am EDT Europe short-selling ban reveals divisions 10:01am EDT Reeling euro zone pins hopes on Berlin and Paris 8:55am EDT Funds see no silver bullet in short-selling ban 7:47am EDT French economy stagnates in second quarter 6:43am EDT Analysis & Opinion Life after the U.S. rating downgrade Counting the costs of Hungary’s Swiss franc debt Related Topics World » France » Germany » Euro Zone » Regulatory News » 1 of 2. A sculpture showing the euro currency sign is seen in front of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, April 1, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach By Paul Taylor PARIS | Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:53am EDT PARIS (Reuters) - It was the week the euro zone debt crisis reached France, one of the twin pillars of the European currency alongside Germany. As jitters over Paris' prized top-notch AAA credit rating took hold, President Nicolas Sarkozy returned from the beach to order up new austerity measures. Then panic selling of French bank shares and an abrupt halt to economic growth added to France's plight. The sight of the euro zone's number two economy buffeted by rumors and investor anxiety in the midst of the holiday season raised existential questions about European monetary union that will confront Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel when they meet in Paris next Tuesday. The fragile edifice of support for weaker European states would start to crumble if France, the second contributor to the euro zone's rescue fund, were to face a debt downgrade. "The implicit hypothesis is that the countries that have the financial means to support the countries that are in trouble do not run into difficulties themselves," Morgan Stanley economist Olivier Bizimana said. All three major ratings agencies reaffirmed this week that no French downgrade was in the works, but that didn't suffice to calm markets. Up to now, Sarkozy has projected himself as an energetic statesman orchestrating the rescue of the euro zone. Suddenly he had to turn to crisis management at home. This week's perfect summer storm wiped 10 billion euros ($14.2 billion) off French banks' market value on Wednesday and left France looking at times like the country in need of help itself. The disclosure that the economy failed to grow at all in the second quarter, after a healthy 0.9 percent spurt in Q1, amplified concerns about the government's ability to meet its target of cutting the deficit to 5.7 percent of GDP this year. Worryingly, household consumption fell by the biggest amount in a decade, suggesting consumers are reining in spending because they fear hard times and higher taxes ahead. "If growth is slowing, questions arise about the public finances of those countries that are supposed to help the countries that are in trouble," Bizimana said. UNPALATABLE CHOICES Just eight months before the first round of a presidential election, Sarkozy faces unpalatable choices between removing more tax breaks to increase revenue and cutting public spending, both of which could further depress anemic growth. The center-right president has tried to upstage his Socialist opposition by proposing to introduce a German-style fiscal rule on deficit reduction in the constitution. Socialist votes would be needed to achieve the required super-majority. Socialist leaders have refused so far to cooperate with what they call Sarkozy's "trap" and sought instead to blame him for increasing the deficit with tax give-aways for the rich. The issue is bound to be one of the major battlegrounds of the campaign for the presidential election next April and May. Sarkozy's approval ratings have improved since Socialist front-runner and former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn was forced out the race after his arrest in New York on sexual assault charges. But both main contenders for the Socialist nomination, Francois Hollande and Martine Aubry, are still ahead of the president in the polls at the moment. IRRATIONAL AND RATIONAL French authorities are still not entirely sure what hit them this week. There were both rational and irrational reasons for the market attack. When Standard & Poor's knocked the United States off its triple-A perch last Friday, markets started looking for who else might be in line, turning a spotlight on France, with the biggest debt and deficit ratios among the six AAA-rated euro zone countries. Economist Jacques Attali, a former top aide to President Francois Mitterrand, noted that S&P had specifically compared France with the United States, saying it was the only other AAA country that would have a similar debt ratio in 2015. "Contrary to what everyone says, we are explicitly singled out," Attali told the daily Le Monde in an interview. "Hence we must a bring our debt down below 85 percent of GDP by the end of 2013, and get back to 70 percent in this decade. That won't be easy." The cost of insuring French public debt against default reached a new peak during the week yet by Friday, France's 10-year bond yield had fallen back below 3 percent for the first time since November 2010, hardly a sign of imminent meltdown. The country does have an Achilles' heel: stress tests have shown that its banks are among the most heavily exposed to debt in the euro zone periphery, particularly Greece and Italy. The sight of the European Central Bank buying Italian bonds on the secondary market to prevent Rome's borrowing costs rising to unsustainable levels, and reports that Greece's debt swap would be extended to bonds maturing up to 2024, combined with wild market rumors to hit French lenders. Shares in Societe Generale plunged as much as 23 percent on Wednesday before closing 15 percent lower. BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole suffered lesser hits. A senior SocGen executive told Reuters the bank was worried that heightened market tensions could lead to a 2008-type credit crunch in which banks stop lending to one another. French regulators, joined by their Italian, Spanish and Belgian counterparts, banned short-selling of financial shares on Thursday in a temporary response to try to halt rumor-driven herd behavior. Bank shares rose modestly on Friday. A senior risk manager at a large European bank, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one reason for the losses on French and European bank shares was that short sellers were targeting banks instead of government bonds. "Because it's increasingly difficult to trade CDS on sovereign debt, short sellers take bank shares as proxy for sovereign bonds of the respective countries. If you bet on losses of French sovereign bonds for instance, short selling of French banks is very promising," he told Reuters. Under cover of anonymity, several traders and government officials suggest hedge funds had shorted French debt in anticipation of a downgrade and turned on the banks when it became clear this was not going to happen. A French fund manager said he clearly witnessed a "France bashing session" on Wednesday. He said a U.S. bank had sent a market-wide message citing six reasons to sell shares of a French investment firm. The reasons invoked were "because it is French," six times. (Additional reporting by Philipp Halstrick, Sophie Sassard, Elena Berton and Geert De Clercq; editing by Mike Peacock) World France Germany Euro Zone Regulatory News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Social Stream (What's this?) Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Mobile Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Contact Us Advertise With Us Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electric trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Friday, 12 August 2011
Cameron denies austerity drive caused UK riots |
Bomb kills five U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan |
Syrian forces kill 11 in swoop on northern towns |
Western Libya rebels strike north towards coast |
No jail for Nazi war criminal Scheungraber: lawyer |
WFP says has more access in Somalia, Mogadishu a challenge |
Egypt moves to scrap decades-old emergency law |
U.S. urges Israel, Palestinians to avoid unilateral moves |
Venezuela's Chavez says feels well in chemotherapy |
Dozens of ships fleeing Benin waters due to piracy: navy |
Google+ social network gets games |
Chinese authorities find 22 more fake Apple stores |
AOL approves buyback after shares tumbled 32 percent |
UK may disrupt social networks during unrest |
Analysis: In Twitter era, authorities must adapt or struggle |
Plan laid out for texting 9-1-1 messages |
Cisco bulls may underestimate tough road ahead |
Intel expects Ultrabook PCs priced below $999 in Q4 |
Caution marks mobile device market in H2: Gartner |
Country star Billy Grammer dies age 85 |
Interrupters film looks at stopping city violence |
Miranda Cosgrove breaks ankle in tour bus crash |
Kim Kardashian sues Old Navy over look-alike ads |
Aguilera, Cee Lo to sing at Jackson tribute concert |
White House rejects claim about bin Laden raid film |
UK's Cameron under pressure over cuts after riots |
China recalls bullet trains in new blow to technology showcase |
Syrian forces kill 19, U.S. threatens more sanctions |
Riot erupts in southwest China town: reports |
Houston lands 2013 NBA All Star Game
UK team looks to lure Lakers star Ron Artest
Israel okays 1,600 settler homes for East Jerusalem |
Matsui, Jackson sparks A's past Jays
TV show bares new face of woman attacked, deformed by chimpanzee
Giants VP of communications Pat Hanlon lashes at team's fans on Twitter
Ivory Coast arrests 57 troops from former regime |
Stricker Sizzles! Steve Stricker nearly sets major record, shoots 63 at PGA
True Blood renewed for fifth season
Miranda Cosgrove's tour postponed after tour bus crashes
WFP says has more access in Somalia, Mogadishu a challenge |
Amazon, Wal-Mart launch e-reader, movie service in the cloud
Chris Brown reveals tour dates with Kelly Rowland, T-Pain
Analysis: Apple going after Google in tablet spats? |
Google and Facebook face-off in social games |
Zynga draws fewer paid players than expected |
Renren posts small Q2 profit; Q3 view drags down stock |
Analysis: Tech world vies for piece of insurance exchanges |
Nvidia's outlook beats Street, shares soar |
Feminist Gloria Steinem hopes TV doc inspires |
Barefoot Bandit signs movie deal to pay victims |
Norway names commission to judge attack response |
Australian unemployment rate rises to 5.1% for July
Yemen says soldier killed in protest city of Taiz |
Cuba's fading Fidel Castro turns 85 on Saturday |
MTV plans Britney Spears tribute for VMAs
SEC investigating S&P's downgrade of U.S. debt
NASA forms Human Exploration and Operations Directorate
Japan says to set up new nuclear safety watchdog |
"Jersey Shore" star admits to having had nose job
"So You Think You Can Dance" crowns Melanie Moore Season 8 winner
Libya rebels take casualties in fight for Brega |
US retail sales rise 0.5% in July
Plumber helps catch Starbucks Peeping Tom
Pregnant woman mauled and killed by her own pit bull
Forgotten 2005 quake victims still need help
Euro zone crisis reaches France, turns existential |
Famine squeezes life out of southern Somalia |
Insight: China's microbloggers rattle the censor's cage |
German court sets Samsung, Apple hearing for Aug 25 |
Wyclef Jean offers new skills to quake-hit Haitians |
Stephen Colbert aims comedic political ad at Iowa |
Glenn Close to get lifetime award at Spanish festival |
Former Warrant singer Jani Lane dies in Los Angeles |
Film buffs eye movie locations in Brooklyn |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01