Debt Crisis

LONDON - European leaders took a step forward Friday in their effort to put all of the Eurozone's banks under central oversight but sketched out a time frame that suggests the new system will not be up and running until months after its anticipated start date. An agreement in June to appoint a single banking supervisor for the 17 nations that use the euro was hailed as a major weapon in the fight against the region's persistent debt crisis. Stronger oversight would pave the way for ailing banks to receive help directly from Europe's bailout fund, without governments having to step in with aid that then worsened their own budget problems.

The Federal Reserve won't move too quickly should the economy pick up faster than expected, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said. While William Dudley, the New York Fed's president and chief executive, said the 2013 outlook for the U.S. "remains somewhat cloudy," he said the economy could bounce back more quickly in coming years if the U.S. avoids the so-called fiscal cliff - automatic spending cuts and tax hikes at the end of the year - and if the Eurozone solves its debt crisis.

LONDON - In some European capitals, they mutter about a Fourth Reich and compare the German chancellor to Adolf Hitler. The French complain about British obstructionism; Brits complain about everyone else. In Spain, a separatist movement is gaining traction. But the Nobel committee chose to take the long view on Friday, awarding the 2012 Peace Prize to the European Union. The panel reasoned that even if economic divisions are tearing at the harmony Europeans have spent decades building, it no longer seems possible that they will start killing each other again.

WASHINGTON -- The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday downgraded its economic projections and warned of an "alarmingly high" risk of a serious global slowdown because of fiscal problems in the U.S. and Europe. The organization said world economic growth would be 3.3% this year, down from a projected 3.5% in July, and would improve to just 3.6% in 2013, down from a forecast of 3.9% made three months ago. Similarly, projections for growth in advanced economies slipped to 1.3% this year, compared to 1.4% in the July forecast, and 1.5% next year, down from 1.8%.

Stocks opened higher Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the institution was ready to begin purchasing bonds to ease the Eurozone debt crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 93 points, or 0.7%, to 13,587 shortly after the opening bell. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 11 points, or 0.7%, to 1,462. The Nasdaq gained 13 points, or 0.4%, to 3,149. Draghi said the ECB's bond-buying plan has "helped to alleviate tensions over the past few weeks" and that "it is now essential that governments continue to implement the necessary steps to reduce both fiscal and structural imbalances," according to Bloomberg News.

WASHINGTON -- The unemployment rate in the economically struggling Eurozone hit a record 11.4% in August, the European Union said Monday. The unemployment rates for June and July also were revised up to 11.4%, meaning the 17-nation Eurozone has seen its jobless situation at that level for three straight months, according to Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office. Before the adjustments, Eurostat had said unemployment was at 11.2% in June and 11.3% in July, both record highs.

KARLSRUHE, Germany - In their eye-catching red robes and caps specifically designed to evoke Renaissance Italy, Germany's supreme court justices have long demonstrated a flair for the theatrical. But even they would probably never have cast themselves as leading actors in a nail-biting drama whose highly anticipated denouement could seal the fate of Europe's - and possibly the world's - economy. In a hushed courtroom Wednesday, the judges are expected to deliver a landmark ruling on whether Germany's participation in a permanent European bailout fund is in line with the country's constitution.

NEW YORK - Investors brushed aside immediate worries over Europe and plowed $325 billion back into stocks. The European Central Bank's plan to buy bonds of debt-saddled countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy sent U.S. stock markets roaring up 2% to four-year highs Thursday after weeks of light summer trading. Investors have worried the Eurozone would fall apart as the monetary union's debt crisis drags on. Investors cheered the ECB move. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 244.52 points, or 1.9%, to 13,292 - a level not seen since December 2007, the month the Great Recession officially began.

The European Central Bank announced Thursday that it would buy the bonds of financially flailing countries such as Spain and Italy in unlimited quantities if necessary to keep their borrowing costs down, in an unprecedented move to keep a lid on the euro debt crisis. ECB chief Mario Draghi said such bold intervention was necessary to relieve undue pressure on governments whose borrowing rates have hit unwarrantably high levels, fueled by investors' “unfounded fears” that Europe's common currency was heading for a messy, debt-induced death.

The European Central Bank unveiled an aggressive plan to buy the bonds of financially flailing countries such as Spain and Italy, its boldest step yet to stanch the continent's 3-year-old debt crisis and one that could lift the U.S. and the global economies. The bond-buying plan unveiled Thursday is intended to stimulate economic growth by reducing the borrowing costs for cooperating Eurozone governments. But its ultimate purpose is to set up a financially adequate and politically acceptable way of containing the crisis and maintaining the survival of the euro currency.