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Stocks ended slightly higher on Monday in a light-volume session as investors stayed cautious ahead of corporate earnings and key auctions for European debt this week.

In the past few months, but particularly in the last few days, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England, roughly British equivalents to the American Treasury Secretary and Fed Chairman, have become the bane of the English banking system's existence. Other British government officials have also joined the fray.

As macroeconomic developments helped boost stock prices on the one hand, comments from central bankers, politicians and others, on the other hand, dampened the party in the equities market.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Friday for rapid EU treaty change to remedy the root causes of the euro zone's debt crisis but warned that Europeans faced a long, hard marathon to restore lost credibility.

Banks' contribution to the economy may be hugely overstated, underscoring anger about the scale of taxpayer rescues and resultant government cutbacks, but a sharp retreat of banking worldwide looks painful for all and needs calibrating.

Europe has still not found a solution to its sovereign debt crisis that would restore investor confidence, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday, advocating greater integration as the way to move forward.

A disastrous German bond sale on Wednesday sparked fears that Europe's debt crisis was even beginning to threaten Berlin, with the leaders of the euro zone's two strongest economies still firmly at odds over a longer-term structural solution.

Banks in London, already on high alert for how to deal with a break-up of the euro zone, will on Tuesday be tested to see how they would cope with a cyber attack on their operations.

The European Central Bank could soon bow to pressure to print money to prevent a further escalation of the euro zone's debt crisis, with respondents in a Reuters poll giving an even probability the ECB would adopt a policy of quantitative easing.

Gold prices fell for the third day in a row Wednesday as grim news from Europe offset mildly encouraging economic news from the U.S.

Interestingly, overall unemployment among females -- now at 1.09 million -- is at a 23-year high.

Britain is on the brink of a contraction as the euro crisis weighs heavy, and inflation w ill fall well below target, Bank of England forecasts showed on Wednesday, leaving the door wide open for more stimulus to boost growth.

Italian borrowing costs reached breaking point on Wednesday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's promise to resign failed to raise optimism about the country's ability to deliver on long-promised economic reforms.

Italian borrowing costs reached the breaking point Wednesday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's promise to resign failed to raise optimism about the country's ability to deliver on long-promised economic reforms.

Europe has a new informal leadership directorate intent on finding a solution to the euro zone's debt crisis, but it has yet to prove its ability to come up with a lasting formula.

The head of the European Financial Stability Facility sought to entice China on Saturday to invest in the bailout fund by saying investors may be protected against as much as one-fifth of initial losses.

Gold prices booked two gains in a row Thursday and silver surged after the European Central Bank and Britain's central bank acted to protect the continent's staggering banks.

South Africa's rand fell as much as 1.4 percent against the dollar on Thursday as a survey pointed to a decline in business confidence and in line with a weaker euro, before recouping those losses in volatile trade.

Gold fell in choppy trade on Thursday after the European Central Bank held off flagging an imminent cut in interest rates, deflating an earlier rally in assets seen as higher risk, such as equities and the euro.

Twelve years after German Chancellor Helmut Kohl pushed through the monetary union over the objections of a majority of his country's citizens, the bloc is crumbling under the burden of huge debts. And the one institution that Germans were told would ensure stability, the ECB, is in deep crisis itself. In the absence of decisive action from Europe's leaders, the bank has come under enormous pressure to fill the gap.

The Bank of England voted on Thursday to buy 75 billion pounds ($115 billion) more in assets to shield Britain's economy from the euro zone debt crisis and keep the faltering recovery going.

Stock futures pointed to Wall Street rising Thursday, extending a rally into a third day, on optimism that European policymakers are making progress in their efforts to help shore up troubled banks.

Although the global economy is struggling to avert a recession, we also know that central banks are working very hard to provide sufficient liquidity to ensure a smooth ride through year-end.

Regulators are still trying to figure out how 31-year-old trader Kweku Adoboli caused $2 billion in bad bets over three tears. But as the probe continues analysts and politicians say UBS trading losses has strengthened the case for separating retail banks from their investment arm, according to The Associated Press.

Gold and silver prices moved higher late Thursday after posting big losses in the New York futures market.

The world's major central banks, led by the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve, in a coordinated effort Thursday intervened to provide dollar loans to commercial banks in an effort to maintain liquidity in Europe and check institutional investor concern about Europe's private sector banks. What will be the impact on U.S. stocks?

South Africa's stocks fell more than 2 percent on Monday and the rand hit one-week lows to the dollar, with further losses seen this week as worries about the global economy and euro zone debt crisis persist.

Billionaire Investor/Philanthropist George Soros has provided more thought-provoking commentary on the markets, and he says a U.s. double-dip recession is more likely now.

Robert Gibbs, a former spokesman for President Barack Obama, on Wednesday sought to clarify the role in public policy the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party is playing: counter-productive, to put it diplomatically.