Greek banks hit by political uncertainty

There are somewhat good news for the EU economy today insofar that only 7 of the 91 tested European banks failed their stress tests, coordinated by the European Commission office. The failures are mainly concentrated in Spain and the reason for this may be not so much the bad state of the Spanish economy but the peculiar way the whole exercise was devised.

LONDON — Gold dropped as much as 6.3% on Monday to below US$1,400 per ounce for the first time since March 2011 as the market’s downward momentum gained speed after more than four months of investor selling. Investors ditched gold along with other commodities from oil to copper after a less-than-forecast growth in China’s gross domestic product in the first quarter stoked doubts about the health of the global economy.

Index closes 0.6%, or 35.92 points, higher at 6,282.76, after suffering bi

Early elections in Greece have been delayed to give the interim government more time to rescue the country's crisis-hit economy, but political uncertainty looks set to complicate delicate talks with creditors.Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos late on Tuesday said ballots would be set in late April to enable critical negotiations with the eurozone and banks holding Greek sovereign debt to be concluded.Venizelos made the announcement at an internal meeting of the Socialist party. No official date has been set by the government.

FRANKFURT — The eurozone crisis is not over, France’s reforms are slipping and the Bundesbank has set aside billions in new provisions against what it sees as risky European Central Bank moves, Germany’s central bank said on Tuesday. Presenting Bundesbank 2012 results that showed a sharp increase in its risk provisions, the German central bank’s chief, Jens Weidmann, urged governments to tackle the roots of their troubles with reforms.

European markets fall sharply as political deadlock continues, pushing financial stocks down with Spanish banks suffering largest losses