EU

On Friday, Greece reached a deal to "restructure" its national debt downward by about $133 billion. That's the biggest sovereign restructuring in world history. But don't worry. According to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, it's no big deal for the U.S.

As the eurozone sovereign debt crisis continues, focus is shifting to Italy as the next potential victim. But for worries closer to home, consider this: $37 billion in U.S. government benefits designed to help people through the downturn will expire by the end of 2011, leaving a hole twice that size in the economy.

Greece is in debt, in trouble, and its people are rebelling against austerity measures. But it's not without resources: What could the government in Athens get if it leased the Parthenon? Or naming rights to the Acropolis? Sacrilege, perhaps -- but when you really need the money...

Even before the International Energy Agency and the White House announced they were releasing billions of gallons or oil from fuel reserves, gas prices were falling. In the past two weeks, a gallon is down more than 11 cents. Also falling -- hopes for the euro, and the outlook for U.S. Treasury bonds.

It's a good day to be a drugmaker after two pro-business Supreme Court rulings favored the industry. And it's an even better day for those who are counting on the EU bailing out Greece. But the folks at Google may want to search for "defense lawyers" -- they may be seeing subpoenas shortly.

The news across the financial world is good for unions, which will find organizing a bit easier; adequate for Greece, which will find getting bailed out a bit easier, and bitter for JPMorgan which had to accept a $153.6 million SEC fine for misleading investors about a mortgage securities transaction.

In its first government complaint against a rival, Microsoft has accused Google of antitrust behavior in Europe. The European Commission is investigating the search giant after smaller websites alleged that Google was unfairly burying them in search results.

The European Commission on Wednesday approved Intel's $7.68 billion acquisition of security-software company McAfee. Regulators had been concerned that the deal would exclude competing software from working with Intel processors, but Intel agreed to maintain interoperability.

Given all that transpired globally over the Thanksgiving weekend, the idea of holding risky assets like stocks should give investors heartburn. Perhaps a strong Black Friday weekend and holiday selling season will draw traders' gazes, but that's no sure shot.

Ireland's credit rating was lowered two notches by Standard & Poor's, as the country prepares to offer a four-year budget aimed at slashing the deficit. "The Irish government looks set to borrow over and above our previous projections to fund further bank capital injections into Ireland's...