A round-up of the key stories across the specialist financial media, including how Italy’s banks were the biggest users of the special three-year funding mechanism launched by the European Central Bank in December.
Italy’s banks tap ECB for €50bn
Italy’s banks, led by UniCredit, were the biggest users of the special three-year funding mechanism launched by the European Central Bank in December, according to a new research report.
Many risk asset benchmarks are looking to consolidate near multi-month highs at the end of a week characterised by building hopes over the eurozone crisis, generally positive corporate news and mostly supportive economic data.
Just six months after issuing billions of euros of new stock to investors and raising hopes the European banking sector was on the mend, three big lenders in key euro-zone economies have been hit by a fresh wave of problems.
A Chinese sovereign wealth fund has bought a stake in the water network that serves London, in what is the fund’s first UK acquisition following investment talks with British politicians.
Dollar, yen set for weekly loss versus euro as U.S. data point to recovery
The dollar and yen headed for weekly decline as U.S. reports suggesting the world’s biggest economy is gaining momentum, reduced demand for safer assets.
Google Inc. reported a 6% rise in fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday afternoon, missing analysts’ expectations and triggering a sharp drop for the stock during after-hours trading.