Asian shares looked set for their biggest daily gain in nearly five weeks on Friday after the European Central Bank outlined its bond-buying scheme to help calm the Euro zone's debt crisis, while firm US data fed speculation of a strong jobs report later in the day.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble rejected on Monday a European Commission plan to give the European Central Bank sweeping powers to monitor all Euro zone banks, saying it should instead focus only on systemically important institutions.
Only about a quarter of ordinary Germans are in favor of debt-stricken Greece remaining in the Euro area, a poll published by the Financial Times on Monday indicated. It revealed strong reluctance to grant Greece yet another bailout installment.
Spain will consider seeking extra aid from Europe on top of a 100 billion Euro rescue of its financial sector but does not see any need for new conditions, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in an interview published in European newspapers.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his counterpart from Madrid said Spain’s borrowing costs don’t reflect the strength of its economy as they pledged to work toward deeper integration to fight the debt crisis.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned Greece in a newspaper interview Monday that it must redouble efforts to comply with bailout conditions imposed by international creditors. If there were delays, Greece must make up for them, he told the daily Bild.
The Euro zone will have to get powers to limit the debt issuance of its members, intervene in national budgets and change national policies to build a deeper economic union, ECB Executive Board Member Joerg Asmussen said.
European Central Bank's new zero deposit rate had an instant impact as it came into force, with banks more than halving the amount of cash parked there overnight and one ECB policymaker saying he expected the move to increase banks' lending.
Italy is hugely exposed to the risk of contagion from the debt turmoil in the euro zone, said Prime Minister Mario Monti, suggesting the European Central Bank take action to help cool borrowing costs.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for a show of force from European authorities as his government sought ways to avoid tapping markets to fund the bailout of the nation’s third-biggest lender.