With much at stake for the U.S., President Barack Obama said Thursday that the most important task for world leaders gathered at an economic summit in France was to resolve the European financial crisis. The EU had taken important steps toward a solution, the president said, but "we're going to have to flesh out more of the details about how the plan will be fully and decisively implemented."
The stock market came to life this week, as investors bet that the economy wouldn't be as bad as had been priced in. The ISM Index, a gauge of manufacturing activity, rose more than expected, construction spending grew, and Europe started to get its act together on a massive bailout fund. But as usual, it all starts with unemployment.
Just a day after a successful bond auction in Portugal, Spain hopes to raise up to $3.9 billion in its first debt auction of the year. The auction will be a key test of investor appetite for European bonds.
In a key test of whether it will be able to raise the %u20AC20 billion it needs to avoid a bailout, the Portuguese government hopes to sell %u20AC1.25 billion in a bond auction Wednesday. Will Portugal end up following the path of Ireland and Greece?