European Treaty Agreement Fails to Reassure Investors

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Source: NYT

An agreement by European leaders to tighten fiscal discipline did little to spur investor confidence on Friday, with the euro edging down against the U.S. dollar and investors in the Asia-Pacific continuing to sell off stocks.

As news of a fiscal compact among the euro zone members trickled out from the key E.U. summit in Brussels, where policy makers had been locked in hours of talks overnight, stock market investors in Asia appeared more concerned about the continued risks of a credit crunch and an economic downturn in Europe.

By midafternoon, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was 2.6 percent lower. The benchmark index in Australia fell 1.8 percent, and in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index closed 1.5 percent lower. The Kospi in South Korea tumbled 2 percent.

The euro was trading at $1.3322, from $1.3341 in New York trading.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/business/global/daily-stock-market-activity.html

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1. 'Agreement' discussed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5084982