MARKETS: Asian markets fall as Spain bailout optimism fades

The devil lies in the detail of Cyprus’s salvation. The island nation’s rescue sets precedents for the eurozone that may stick in the memory of depositors and bondholders alike as investors debate who will next fall victim to the debt crisis. Under the terms of the agreement struck early this morning in Brussels, senior Cypriot bank bond holders will take losses and uninsured depositors will be largely wiped out.

In the wake of S&P debt downgrades, Merkel vows faster eurozone reforms. European leaders promised on Saturday to speed up plans to strengthen spending rules and get a permanent bailout fund up and running as soon as possible, a day after U.S. agency S&P cut the ratings of several euro zone countries' creditworthiness.

We are told that eurozone finance ministers meeting on Monday night in Brussels are keen to put the crisis in the single currency behind them. Well, maybe. But you could argue that they shouldn't put it too far behind them. Why? Because across the eurozone, governments are pinning their recovery hopes on a weak euro. And in 2011, most analysts are expecting the euro to go up.