Headline News: Eurobiz

• 'IMF' for Europe a distracting sideshow: experts (AFP)
  

  AFP - Talk of a European version of the International Monetary Fund to rescue errant EU states is little more than a distracting sideshow, analysts and a key central banker say.

  
  
  
• EU urges US to join in action against speculators (AP)
  AP - European officials urged the U.S. to join in a crackdown on speculators who bet against Europe's currency union, warning they might ban some credit default swaps — opaque financial instruments blamed for worsening the world financial crisis.
  
• Britain's trade deficit widens (AP)
  AP - Britain's trade deficit with the rest of the world widened unexpectedly in January after lower sales of chemicals and other commodities led a drop in exports.
  
• Euro wobbles on eurozone finance jitters (AFP)
  

  AFP - The euro lost ground against the dollar Tuesday on revived concern for the financial fate of Greece and other eurozone members and resistance to a planned IMF-style European Monetary Fund.

  
  
  
• FTSE shares inch lower (AFP)
  

  AFP - The FTSE 100 stock exchange slipped fractionally on Tuesday after a bout of cautious trading due to uncertainty over Europe's economic outlook and poor earnings reports, analysts said.

  
  
  
• EU policy makers play down monetary fund idea (Reuters)
  Reuters - European policy makers played down on Tuesday the idea of creating a European Monetary Fund, saying it was at most a long-term project that did not offer a solution to Greece's immediate debt problems.
  
• World stocks in pause a year after rally started (AP)
  

  AP - World stock markets traded in very narrow ranges Tuesday as investors took a breather a year after shares began their recovery from multiyear lows.

  
  
  
• German bankruptcies up 15.5 pct in December (AP)
  AP - German corporate bankruptcies rose in 2009 for the first time in six years, with filings up 15.5 percent on the year in December in the wake of recession, government data showed Tuesday.
  
• European stocks fall as markets mark dark anniversary (AFP)
  

  AFP - Europe's leading stock markets dropped in morning trade on Tuesday as investors reacted to poor earnings news on the grim anniversary of global indices striking multi-year low points.

  
  
  
• Audi '09 net income down 39 pct to $1.8 billion (AP)
  AP - German carmaker Audi AG says its 2009 net income fell 39 percent to euro1.35 billion ($1.8 billion) as the economic downturn cut demand for its cars.
  
• EU, ECB lock horns over IMF-style rescue fund (Reuters)
  Reuters - European policymakers came out in support of a rescue fund that would mark a new phase of economic cooperation within the 16-nation euro zone, setting them on a potential collision course with its central bank.
  
• Portugal adds austerity measures (AP)
  

  AP - Portugal announced new austerity measures Monday to avoid a debt crisis like the one engulfing Greece, cutting welfare benefits and government hiring as well as selling assets and raising taxes on the well-off.

  
  
  
• German poker tournament robbers still on the run (AP)
  

  AP - German police were hunting Monday for four bandits who stormed a poker tournament in Berlin and made off with euro240,000 ($328,000) in jackpot money in a brazen daylight heist.

  
  
  
• Greece relieved at EU backing, but strikes grow (AP)
  

  AP - Greek officials expressed relief Monday at European support over the country's debt crisis, but labor unions stepped up strikes, angry at recent wage cuts and sales tax increases they say will hurt the poor.

  
  
  
• EU considers own crisis fund (AP)
  

  AP - The European Union plans to create a European Monetary Fund to better coordinate the economies of the 16 countries that use the euro and prevent financial debacles such as the Greek debt crisis from undermining the credibility of Europe's single currency.

  
  
  
• FTSE 100 climbs at the open (AFP)
  

  AFP - Leading shares climbed at the start of trade on Monday following strong gains in Asia.

  
  
  
• Europe will stand by Greece: Sarkozy (Reuters)
  

  Reuters - French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised Greece Sunday that euro zone countries would help it overcome its financial problems and vowed a European crackdown on financial speculators Athens blames for its woes.

  
  
  
• Iceland votes 'no' to debt deal for collapsed bank (AP)
  

  AP - Icelanders blew whistles and set off fireworks in the capital as referendum results Sunday showed they had resoundingly rejected a $5.3 billion plan to repay Britain and the Netherlands for debts spawned by the collapse of an Icelandic bank.

  
  
  
• Icelanders reject deal to repay British and Dutch (Reuters)
  

  Reuters - Icelandic voters vented their fury on Saturday at the bankers and politicians who ruined their economy, overwhelmingly rejecting a $5 billion deal to repay debts to Britain and the Netherlands, early results showed.

  
  
  
• Germany's Merkel meets Greece PM over debt bailout tensions (The Christian Science Monitor)
  The Christian Science Monitor - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met her Greek counterpart George Papandreou here tonight to discuss Greece’s financial crisis, as tensions rise over whether Germany will provide crucial support to an EU bailout for the heavily indebted Mediterranean country.