World News Today - Article I
by Noah Alter
What’s going on with the Euro?
The Euro is a form of money like the United States Dollar here, but the Euro consists of many countries in Europe using the same money. There are 17 countries that currently use this currency. They are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. European leaders are set to call on the European Central Bank to go on buying bonds to support the Italian and Spanish debt, according to planning discussions about the upcoming meeting on Wednesday, but Germany said it opposed such a move. The leaders will say in their conclusions: “We fully support the ECB (European Central Bank) in its actions to keep stability in the Euro. The buying of bonds has distressed euro zone areas in the secondary market, which it began again in August to help boost the economies of Italy and Spain. German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted very fast in Berlin, telling reporters she didn’t want a declaration from politicians telling the ECB what to do. The ECB has been buying bonds to save Italy and Spain for two months now and investors fear that both countries could be heading in the direction of the financial crisis of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, all of which have received EU/ IMF bailouts. Many economists say that the only way for the 17-nation euro using countries to protect themselves from further pressure and win back confidence is to place the ECB and its unlimited liquidity at the center of Europe’s rescue of heavily indebted sovereigns. Germany and France told Greece Wednesday to make up its mind quickly whether it wants to stay with the rest of the users of the Euro after an abrupt decision to call a referendum on a 130 billion euro (178 billion USD) bailout sparked scare on global markets. France and Germany are concerned about the strain that Greece is putting on the Euro currency value. Greece’s financial situation is the worst if not one of the worst on the Euro currency. A German Finance Ministry spokesman said Greece apparently has enough money to keep running until mid-December, when it has to redeem more than 6 billion Euros in debt. The purchasing power of the Euro has also been slowly decreasing. In October it fell to 47.1 from 48.5 in September. That marks the third month in a row that manufacture’s PMI has been the 50 level that divides contraction from growth. Factory growth in the United States, measured by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) index, unexpectedly slowed in October, in line with similar trends in China, Britain, and Canada. Europe is having issues stabilizing the Euro currency along with almost every other countries currencies trying to stabilize their own currency, economy, etc. in the world. Germany has already discussed going back to the Deutsch Mark which they stopped using in the year of 2002. Keep your eyes peeled for any updates on the situation in Europe with the Euro currency.
(This topic was partially supported by information from Reuters and MSNBC)
by Noah Alter
What’s going on with the Euro?
The Euro is a form of money like the United States Dollar here, but the Euro consists of many countries in Europe using the same money. There are 17 countries that currently use this currency. They are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. European leaders are set to call on the European Central Bank to go on buying bonds to support the Italian and Spanish debt, according to planning discussions about the upcoming meeting on Wednesday, but Germany said it opposed such a move. The leaders will say in their conclusions: “We fully support the ECB (European Central Bank) in its actions to keep stability in the Euro. The buying of bonds has distressed euro zone areas in the secondary market, which it began again in August to help boost the economies of Italy and Spain. German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted very fast in Berlin, telling reporters she didn’t want a declaration from politicians telling the ECB what to do. The ECB has been buying bonds to save Italy and Spain for two months now and investors fear that both countries could be heading in the direction of the financial crisis of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, all of which have received EU/ IMF bailouts. Many economists say that the only way for the 17-nation euro using countries to protect themselves from further pressure and win back confidence is to place the ECB and its unlimited liquidity at the center of Europe’s rescue of heavily indebted sovereigns. Germany and France told Greece Wednesday to make up its mind quickly whether it wants to stay with the rest of the users of the Euro after an abrupt decision to call a referendum on a 130 billion euro (178 billion USD) bailout sparked scare on global markets. France and Germany are concerned about the strain that Greece is putting on the Euro currency value. Greece’s financial situation is the worst if not one of the worst on the Euro currency. A German Finance Ministry spokesman said Greece apparently has enough money to keep running until mid-December, when it has to redeem more than 6 billion Euros in debt. The purchasing power of the Euro has also been slowly decreasing. In October it fell to 47.1 from 48.5 in September. That marks the third month in a row that manufacture’s PMI has been the 50 level that divides contraction from growth. Factory growth in the United States, measured by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) index, unexpectedly slowed in October, in line with similar trends in China, Britain, and Canada. Europe is having issues stabilizing the Euro currency along with almost every other countries currencies trying to stabilize their own currency, economy, etc. in the world. Germany has already discussed going back to the Deutsch Mark which they stopped using in the year of 2002. Keep your eyes peeled for any updates on the situation in Europe with the Euro currency.
(This topic was partially supported by information from Reuters and MSNBC)
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