EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

Decisions reached by the European Union summit last week are radical and will lead to harmonization of policies which has not been possible so far, European Central Bank Governing Council Member Marko Kranjec said on Monday in a TV interview.

Investors were bracing for a possible mass downgrade of euro zone countries as soon as this week after EU leaders failed to come up with decisive measures to tackle the region's debt crisis.

With European Union leaders implementing measures to stabilize government finances at a Galacial pace, what represents the best asset class in the event of a government default by Italy?

A European summit deal to strengthen budget discipline in the Eurozone failed to restore financial market confidence on Monday, forcing the European Central Bank to step in again gingerly.

The euro slid and European stock markets dived Monday as investors judged that last week's pact to bind EU economies closer together would fail to quell its financial crisis.

Gold prices dropped 1.8 percent Monday as the dollar rose on disappointment with last week's Eurozone summit and key price support for gold failed.

It was billed as a summit to save the euro. It may be remembered as the day Europe lost patience with Britain, as most of the continent threw its lot in with European Union founding members France and Germany and committed to binding their economies ever more tightly.

Stocks rose on Friday as European Union leaders agreed on measures to tackle the region's sovereign debt crisis and data showed U.S. consumer confidence rose to a six-month high.

The European Central Bank is capping its weekly bond purchases at 20 billion euros and euro zone officials want banks to use its big new liquidity offer to buy more sovereign debt, ECB sources said on Friday.

Stocks advanced on Friday as European Union leaders agreed on measures to address the region's sovereign debt crisis, while U.S. consumer confidence rose to its highest level in six months.

Italian police believe that the letter bomb sent to a top tax official in Rome on Friday was the work of a far-left anarchist group.

A mail bomb exploded at a tax collection office in Rome, Italy on Friday, injuring one.

Gold prices edged higher Friday after Eurozone leaders, in their eighth sovereign debt crisis summit this year, agreed to craft a treaty that will limit the ability of members to run-up unsustainable government debts.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open for equities on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 up 0.1 to 0.4 percent.

Europe divided on Friday in a historic rift over building a fiscal union to preserve the euro, with a large majority of countries led by Germany and France agreeing to move ahead with a separate treaty, leaving Britain isolated.

Crude oil prices dropped below $98 a barrel in Asian trade Friday as investors' hopes dimmed over the outcome of a crucial European Union summit later in the day.

European stock markets and the euro fell on Friday on fears that EU leaders were struggling to come to terms on immediate measures to halt the slide of euro zone government bond markets after two years of deepening crisis.

Asian stocks plunged Friday, following overnight declines on Wall Street, after the European Central Bank gave no indication of more government bond buying.

European Union leaders paused from their summit after hours of talks focused on trying to find a solution to the euro zone debt crisis.

European leaders agreed on stricter budget rules for the euro zone Friday, but failed to secure changes to the EU treaty among all 27 member states, meaning a deal will instead have to involve just euro zone states and any others that want to join.

Prospects for revenue growth for U.S. insurance brokers in 2012 will likely match or exceed levels reported for the first nine months of 2011. Nevertheless, the competitive fundamentals of the property/casualty insurance market and tepid pace of the global economic recovery will continue to challenge more meaningful improvement in operating performance, Fitch Ratings said Thursday.