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Greek bonds and bank shares sank to new lows on Tuesday as a budget expert from Germany's ruling party pressured private banks to accept a discount on the Greek debt they own, spreading the pain of an international bailout.

World stocks remained troubled by worries over Greek debt on Tuesday after Germany demanded new austerity measures, offsetting strong U.S. earnings, and driving down the euro on contagion fears.

Germany said on Monday it could offer aid for Greece within days if it agreed to painful new austerity measures, but rescue jitters pushed the cost of insuring against a Greek debt default to a record high.

Uncertainty over an aid package for Greece pushed up its borrowing costs to a 12-year high on Monday, with demands from Germany for further austerity measures before aid is granted heightening the tension.

The euro stabilized on Monday and Asian share markets rose after Greece requested emergency aid and as a raft of U.S. data showed its economic recovery was gathering strength.

With official interest rates near zero and the Federal Reserve unable to cut them any further, every policy meeting by definition brings the central bank one step closer to an eventual monetary tightening.

Finance leaders scrambled to secure aid for debt-stricken Greece on Saturday and Canada cautioned that some European countries feared the 45 billion euros ($60 billion) under consideration was not enough.

Greece and top world finance officials raced to get rescue funds to the debt-stricken euro zone country but concern in Germany about the scale of the bailout threatened to slow down the process.

Debt-stricken Greece appealed to its European partners and the IMF for emergency loans on Friday, yielding to overwhelming market pressure to set in motion the first financial rescue of a member of the euro zone.

The IMF sought to maintain unity within the Group of 20 economic powers on Thursday, urging countries not to go separate ways in reforming the financial sector, as frictions emerged over a controversial plan to tax banks.

Greece's budget gap last year was worse than feared, the European Union's statistics office revealed on Thursday, triggering a fresh slide of asset prices in Greece and other debt-choked European countries.

Greece's budget gap last year was worse than feared, the European Union's statistics office revealed on Thursday, as Moody's Investors Service downgraded its rating of Greek government debt.

Strong growth in China and upbeat corporate earnings lifted world stocks on Thursday to a new high for the year, putting them at levels last seen around the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Investor doubts, a German legal threat and persistent confusion over the terms of aid perforated Greece's euro zone parachute Wednesday, pushing borrowing costs up.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday, following global stocks lower, as persistent fears over Greece's public finances unsettled investors worried about sovereign debt defaults in Europe.

Greece's borrowing costs hit a new high on Wednesday after the government said the country's banks had asked for billions of euros in support and euro zone states argued over the conditions of potential bailout loans.

Greek banks, hit by a series of credit rating downgrades linked to the country's debt crisis, have asked the government for more financial support, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on Wednesday.

The sort of debt problems seen in Greece are likely to spread further in the euro zone and Portugal could be the next victim, Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos was on Monday quoted as saying.

The euro strengthened on Monday as debt-stricken Greece sold seven-year bonds, but investors remained anxious about the country's long-term ability to finance itself at affordable rates. After hitting a 10-month low below $1.33 last week, the euro rose above $1.35 on Monday as Greece returned to capital markets for the first time since euro zone leaders agreed to extend the southern European country a financial safety net.

The Dow industrials could hit 11,000 this week as investors bet the U.S. labor market had a significant turnaround in March, showing the economic recovery is in good shape.

Euro zone leaders won muted approval from financial markets on Friday for a band aid agreement to create a safety net for debt-ridden Greece, but a row over the IMF's role flared up just as it had seemed settled.