Word: european
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Inflation or Deflation The amount of money that European governments and the U.S. are promising to put into the financial system is so vast - close to $2 trillion, if the cash injections and state guarantees are added up - that it could end up stoking inflation. Consumer prices have anyway been climbing for much of this year, as the cost of everything from oil to milk and cereal has risen. That trend is now changing as the global economy falters. Inflation leaped to a 16-year high in the U.K. in September, but elsewhere in Europe it has slowed, and economists...
...many countries ramped up their household borrowing in the past few years - usually because rising house prices made them feel richer. For policymakers, the critical issue is the speed with which the inevitable weaning off of credit now takes place. If the "deleveraging" is quick, it will mean the European economy will be much better placed to rebound on a healthier footing. But curtailing credit would hurt consumers who are deep in debt, and would have serious consequences for retailers and others dependent on household spending for their livelihoods. If the deleveraging is slow, the economy could remain sluggish...
...throwing a lifeline to their banks, European governments are insisting these institutions resume their stalled lending to businesses and individuals. But it's clear that even if all goes according to plan, the sort of carefree dishing out of credit that marked the financial sector - and which both underlay the banking crisis and helped to propel Europe's economies - is history. "There won't be a return," says Jean-Marc Franceschi, a banking specialist at law firm Hogan & Hartson in Paris. "It will never be like it was before...
Figuring out exactly what's happening and then reacting accordingly falls to the European Central Bank and its president, Jean-Claude Trichet. The bank has been nervous about inflation all year, but earlier this month it slashed its lending rates by 0.5% to 3.75% as part of a coordinated rate cut by the world's biggest central banks. Riches-Flores expects the bank to cut rates further in the near future as the economy slows. At the weekend, the E.U.'s Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Joaquín Almunia, even called for monetary easing "in the near term...
...forces once spread from Eisenach, where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German to drive the Reformation. Today, this town of 40,000 is notable for the more prosaic fact that it's at the receiving end of a chilling secular influence: slowing demand for automobiles. Opel, a European subsidiary of the beleaguered American giant General Motors, is the town's biggest employer - and when Opel's in trouble, so is Eisenach...