Downgrades Loom for Banks

European banks are bracing for a wave of ratings downgrades in coming weeks that could intensify pressure on the fragile industry and further undercut recent efforts to defuse the Continent's long-running financial crisis.

Following the DAX's rise to a new record high and the FTSE's rally to its highest level in over five years, Citigroup's Jonathan Stubbs told CNBC that European equities have "rarely" been so appealing to investors.

Impacts, Transmission and Recovery. This was the topic of a conference I recently attended, sponsored by the Korean Development Institute and the East-West Center. It was a great opportunity to hear diverse views on the progress of the world economy. The papers are here. Rather than discussing all the papers, I want to highlight a few papers that had particular salience for me.

Miriam Metzinger submits: Stocks discussed on Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! TV Segment, Friday June 24. Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)

From GoldCore Sterling At Risk Of "Large-Scale Devaluation" As Currency Wars Intensify Today’s AM fix was USD 1,613.50, EUR 1,208.80 and GBP 1,041.57 per ounce. Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,611.25, EUR 1,206.39 and GBP 1,041.53 per ounce.

Once again, on Tuesday, I had the pleasure of being on Capital Account, live television with Lauren Lyster. We discussed IMF downgrades, unemployment, conspiracy theories, and economic outliers. We also discussed my proposal in regards to the proper way to measure the unemployment rate. I come in at about the 3:40 mark, but the first few minutes of Lauren are entertaining as usual.

By Marc Chandler:The U.S. dollar is posting modest gains against most of the major and emerging market currencies to start what is likely to be among the most important weeks here in the first quarter, with numerous central banks meeting, first tier economic data and the deadline for the Private Sector Involvement (PSI) in Greece. The yen is bucking the generalization, recovering from its pre-weekend losses helped by cross rate gains.

By Russ Koesterich: In recent weeks, governments across the world have stepped up efforts to address the European debt crisis.