LONDON – Skepticism that European Union leaders will be able to cobbletogether a plan to kick-start the region's faltering economy anddeal with its crippling debt crisis hit stock markets hardWednesday. Leaders of the 27 EU countries are to meet in Brussels later in theday for a summit that will focus on Europe's economic woes andGreece's political crisis. An election on June 17 is widelyconsidered to be a referendum on the country's membership of theeuro and that's caused big jitters in the markets over the pastcouple of weeks. There had nevertheless been some hope in recent days that thesummit might make progress towards shoring up Europe's defensesagainst financial turmoil. Any enthusiasm appears to have vanishedwith Germany's continued refusal to back the idea of jointly-issuedeurobonds. Proponents of eurobonds say they could help mitigate thecrisis by spreading debt risk across the single currency zone. "Hopes for today's EU summit have been well and truly chucked outof the window, as the Germans once again state their firmopposition to eurozone bonds as a means of solving the crisis,"said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index. In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was 1.8 percent lower at 5,305, whileGermany's DAX lost 1.7 percent to 6,328. The CAC-40 in France was1.9 percent lower at 3,025. The euro was also under pressure, trading 0.1 percent lower at$1.2650, near four-month lows. Wall Street was headed for a retreat, too, with both Dow futuresand the S&P 500 futures down 0.7 percent. Europe's battle to contain its debt crisis, now well into its thirdyear, is likely to remain the focus of attention all the way up toand beyond the Greek election. The main concern is that political parties that are against theterms of the country's bailout package winning will win theelection. If Europe then cuts off its funding to Greece, thecountry may face a messy exit from the euro, raising concerns amonginvestors that other countries might follow. Some analysts say aGreek exit would herald the beginning of the end of the euro andcould slam the global economy. Another big worry for investors is a slowdown in Chinese growth,compounded by a reluctance of Chinese companies to borrow becauseof uncertainty about the economy. Those concerns dented sentiment earlier in Asia. Japan's Nikkei 225index tumbled 2 percent to close at 8,556.60, while Hong Kong'sHang Seng fell 1.3 percent to 18,786.19 and South Korea's Kospilost 1.1 percent at 1,808.62. Oil prices tracked equities lower, with benchmark oil for Julydelivery down 88 cents at $90.97 a barrel in electronic trading onthe New York Mercantile Exchange. ____ Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as RFID Key Fob , China UHF Metal Tag, and more. For more , please visit UHF Metal Tag today!
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