EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

Gold prices regained some early losses Wednesday after the European Central Bank intervened in the bond market to cap dangerously high yields on Italian, Spanish and French bonds.

Pressure eased on Europe's government debt market Wednesday, with Italian borrowing costs back below the 7 percent level viewed as unsustainable after the European Central Bank was seen buying up bonds.

The European Central Bank stepped in to stem an accelerating selloff of euro zone government bonds on Wednesday, traders said, after the United States called for more decisive action to halt the spreading sovereign debt crisis.

Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti raced to assemble a new government for Italy on Tuesday while a sharp rise in French borrowing costs raised fears that the two-year debt crisis may spread to the euro zone's second biggest economy.

Monti said he would “act with urgency” to resolve Italy’s deep financial crisis.

Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti raced to assemble a new government for Italy Tuesday while a sharp rise in French borrowing costs raised fears that the two-year debt crisis may spread to the euro zone's second-biggest economy.

Asian shares fell on Tuesday, as a rise in euro zone bond yields reflected lingering doubts about the ability of politicians in Italy and Greece to push through painful reforms to resolve their debt crises and win market confidence.

Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti meets the leaders of Italy's biggest two parties on Tuesday to discuss the many sacrifices needed to reverse a collapse in market confidence that is driving an ever deepening euro zone debt crisis.

LEIPZIG, Germany, Nov 14 - Warning that Europe faced its toughest hour since World War Two, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged her party to set aside its misgivings about the euro and accept closer political integration as a solution to the bloc's deepening debt crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Europe could be living through its toughest hour since World War Two as new leaders in Italy and Greece rushed to form governments and limit the damage from the euro zone debt crisis.

Italy paid a euro-era high price to sell five-year bonds on Monday, with investors wary of buying its debt until the country's new leadership undertakes profound economic reform.

A haircut of Greek debt is damaging to Greece and the euro area, and has stoked wider concern about possible impairment of bonds in other euro zone members, ECB Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

Italy's head of state begins talks Sunday to appoint an emergency government to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and handle a crisis that has brought the Eurozone's third-largest economy to the brink of financial disaster.

Can anyone bring any sense of fiscal stability and normalcy to the Italian government? Perhaps Mario Monti, center, can -- and all in the European Union, and those who believe in the euro, not just the citizens of Italy, will no doubt be rooting for him.

Stocks jumped on Friday, ending higher for the week after the Italian Senate's approval of economic reforms gave investors some relief from worries about the Eurozone's debt crisis.

In a couple of weeks, the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin a new round of stress tests on America's largest banking organizations, a top Federal Reserve official said Friday.

Gold prices rode a roller-coaster this week, topping a peak midweek when the settled at $1,799.20 before plunging 2.2 percent over the next two days on fears Italy had lost control of its finances and was threatening the Eurozone's survival.

Stocks rose about 2 percent on Friday, with major indexes on track to end the week higher as Italy's Senate approved economic reforms, easing investor concerns about the euro zone's debt crisis.

Stocks rose at the open on Friday as debt-laden Italy moved to implement tough austerity measures crucial to avoid a Eurozone meltdown.

Greeks lauded the nomination of new prime minister Lucas Papademos on Friday and expressed hope his government could put the economy back on track and calm political turmoil that has threatened to force Athens out of the euro zone.

Greeks lauded the nomination of new Prime Minister Lucas Papademos Friday and expressed hope that his government could put the economy back on track and calm political turmoil that has threatened to force Athens out of the euro zone.