Eurozone

Sunday's elections in France and Greece were a firm vote against austerity, and regardless of the merits of either side of the debate, that means the future of the eurozone is again in doubt. Here's why the bond markets care so much -- and why you should, too.

An 11-year-old Dutch boy has gone where many of the best economic minds in Europe have feared to tread and proposed a radical solution to the European single currency's problems -- using a pizza as his inspiration.

On Friday, it looked like this week would be ugly. Standard & Poor's had just downgraded the credit ratings of France and several other E.U. countries, the latest domino to fall in Europe's slow-motion economic train wreck. But at least in the U.S., the stock market has shrugged off that news.

By most indications, the U.S. economy is recovering fairly well for the time being. But across the Pond in Europe, another story is unfolding that has the stock market worried -- and it should have your attention, too.

Jim Cramer of CNBC's Mad Money, appeared on Today to discuss Monday's stock market slide with Matt Lauer. Asked what Wall Street had really reacted to, Cramer said it wasn't the supercommittee's failure: "It's all Europe," he told Lauer.

American household incomes have fallen more since the recession ended than they fell during it, a new study reveals; EU leaders say they have a plan to solve the sovereign debt crisis; and Netflix has declared its big Qwikster plan dead on arrival.

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.

Portugal's economic health is at risk of collapse after Moody's cut its rating of the country's debt to junk status. Also at risk of collapse: The case against former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn after The New York Post reported that his accuser was working two jobs -- as a maid and a prostitute.

Is the American recovery fast or slow? Depends on who you ask. The Wall Street Journal sees corporate America merrily rolling along while Main Street suffers. The New York Times warns that Wall Street is about to feel the pinch too. But nobody is all that optimistic about Greece today.

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.