E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSBy msnbc.com news services
Wall Street was wavering Monday after a lackluster response to strong U.S. jobs numbers last Friday.
After a perky start to the year, market sentiment has deteriorated again due to concerns about Europe's ability to solve its debt problems.
European markets were steady Monday as the leaders of France and Germany meet to hash out a plan on restoring confidence in the euro. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are meeting for the first time this year.
Investors will want to see how the "fiscal compact" agreed in December is being fleshed out. All EU countries but Britain agreed last month to consider a new treaty to enforce tougher budget controls by March this year.
The French and German leaders stressed that they view boosting economic growth a priority as they push through with efforts to stem the eurozone's debt crisis.
Both said they're prepared to consider speeding up payments into the 17-nation eurozone's permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, in an effort to bolster confidence.
Earlier in Asia, Chinese shares in Hong Kong and the mainland jumped sharply following a weekend government planning conference during which Premier Wen Jiabao promised to channel lending to entrepreneurs who have been battered by weak global demand.
China tightened lending and investment curbs last year to cool its overheated economy but has reversed course in recent months following a slump in global demand that has hurt exporters and led to job losses.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
Stocks are up because of the Euro meeting? Doesn't that conflict a little bit with the other headline?
Investors to turn attention back to US this week
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45906120/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/
The media once again looking for reasons to justify the market direction.
Europeans need to put on their 'big boy pants' and grow up. If the pigs are the problem, let them collapse and pick up the pieces later. If the euro can't survive long term, dump it now and get it over with. Don't drag it out and take down the rest of the world economy with them.
oil is the; blood-water-food of modern man..the housing market fell because people had to have transportation to work..the oil/ gasoline prices skyrocketed, thus the dilemma..yup, people will thin out due to same dilemma..the middle east is knocking on our door step..while it doesn't directly involve us; it does..we will sell our oil to our allies thus skyrocketing our oil to our people..watch & see, it may get very Ugly here..common American people will go through extreme hardships..and who knows ?? God may end ALL this MADNESS !!!...
Ford Fusion is the best car. period. I bought one in August of 2011, a beautiful blue 2012, for $23,000. I am 80 years old, have owned more than 20 cars. I am a rabid NASCAR FAN. My 2012 Fusion is magnificent. Best paint job, best comfort, best power (4 cylinders), best MPG, best style. Best everything. It's like a Rolls-Royce. The "experts" who ruled that the Fusion is not as good as any other car could be hired on the spot by the NFL. Witness yesterday's almost/fiasco between Denver and Pittsburg. Those officials didn't know a lateral from a forward pass. The experts who judged the best car didn't know a car from a covered wagon.
Ford? never ever, never. Fool me once.. Anytime you hear these noises (from supposedly that Ford finally turned corner on reliability, you should be very sceptical. I took their bate couple of times in the past, but I won't be fooled again. I am reasonable, I can expect car of any model to have occasional issues. But my Fords always had the worst outages, the ones that get you stranded on highway. or you are unable to start it in your driveway and have to order towing service to be embarrassed in front of your neighbours. I recently had Focus as rental, it barely had 20K and its engine would die at every stoppage. It just reassured me that a Ford can not be counted on for reliability. If this malfunction happened to a Toyota it would be all over the news.