A round-up of the top stories from around the specialist financial media, including how stock index futures have dipped a day after top indexes hit a five-month high
Stock futures off after market hits five-month high
Stock index futures dipped on Wednesday, a day after top indexes hit a five-month high, with pressure on the euro testing the recent view that the US market was decoupling from Europe.
Europe's $39 trillion pension threat grows as regional economies sputter
State-funded pension obligations in 19 of the European Union nations were about five-times higher than their combined gross debt, according to a study commissioned by the European Central Bank. The countries in the report, compiled by the Research Centre for Generational Contracts at Freiburg University in 2009, had almost €30 trillion ($39.3 trillion) of projected obligations to their existing populations.
A new EU fiscal treaty is to include an escape clause that allows the suspension of a balanced-budget rule during a period of economic downturn or other exceptional event, according to a draft of the document obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
Germany’s five-year bond auction attracted bids for more than double the targeted amount on Wednesday, underscoring the country’s status as the eurozone’s safest haven despite the country’s wilting economic growth. Click here for the full story
Germany's economic recovery stalls
Germany’s economic recovery went into reverse at the end of last year but the country still notched up 3% growth in 2011 – twice as fast as in the US and the rest of the eurozone.
