Europe's New Woes Raise U.S. Threat

Major debt restructuring for both Cyprus and Greece will probably force the struggling euro zone countries to leave the single currency, according to Citigroup's latest economic outlook, which warned markets could again be hit by escalating fears.

I WROTE yesterday that rising European inflation associated with increasing commodity prices may soon prompt a move by the European Central Bank. The ECB did not announce a rate increase today, but it did signal that one would be occuring soon—if not next month, then almost certainly in May:

The global economy is recovering but is especially "fragile" in the eurozone, Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi said Saturday."The return to growth is fragile, particularly in the euro area," Draghi told an annual meeting of bank executives in southern Naples.Employment trends are weak and "credit conditions for small and medium- sized enterprises are still tight and hindering recovery," added Draghi, who as a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council also votes on euro- zone interest rates.

NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) - The euro zone economic recovery is fragile and there are no medium term inflation risks, European Central Bank Governing Council Member Mario Draghi said on Saturday.

LAST year, the euro was just about the worst-performing of the thirty-odd “major” currencies tracked by Bloomberg. That seems fitting: the sovereign-debt crisis at the euro zone’s edges was the biggest macroeconomic nasty in 2010. The wonder is that the euro did not fall harder. It lost “only” 6.6% of its value against the dollar, not a huge sell-off for a currency whose very existence seemed under threat. Even now, after an early-year rally in the dollar, the euro stands at $1.31 or so. That is comfortably above the $1.15-1.20 range that is widely considered as fair-value.

Euro zone nations are falling far behind the United States and Canada as a fragile recovery takes root in advanced economies, the OECD said on Thursday, advising central banks to keep easy money flowing ...

PARIS (Reuters) - Euro zone nations are falling far behind the United States and Canada as a fragile recovery takes root in advanced economies, the OECD said on Thursday, advising central banks to keep easy money flowing so the rebound does not prove short-lived.

PARIS (Reuters) - Euro zone nations are falling far behind the