Global financial markets are braced for a wave of contagion from Greece on Monday, with expected heavy losses for southern European government bonds and regional stock markets as investors scramble to discount a possible "Grexit" that most had still assumed was unlikely as late as Friday afternoon.
Tags: European Union
Quartet of crises threatens Europe's core
Four great crises around Europe's fringes threaten to engulf the European Union, potentially setting the ambitious post-war unification project back by decades.
Russia waits in wings as Greek debt crisis deepens
Russian President Vladimir Putin must be finding it hard to contain a wry smile as the European Union struggles with Greece's debt problems.
Airbus signs deal for China cabin-completion plant
Airbus (AIR.PA) signed an agreement on Thursday to set up its second plant on Chinese soil in a deal that the European planemaker hopes will lead to lucrative new plane orders.
Dollar firms before payrolls, Greece unease simmers
The dollar was near a three-week high on Thursday and world stock markets had a delicate feel, as the implication of U.S. jobs data later for a possible Fed rate hike added to Europe's uncertainty over Greece.
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The S&P 500 closed flat on Friday but ended lower for the week, with investors cautious ahead of a meeting in Europe that could decide whether Greece will default on critical loans.
Greece failed again to clinch a deal with its international creditors on Thursday, setting up a last-ditch effort on Saturday to either avert a default next week or start preparing to protect the euro zone from financial market turmoil.
Oil prices rose above $63 a barrel on Monday in response to new proposals from Greece that the European Union welcomed as a basis for progress at talks to try to stave off a default that could cause turmoil in financial markets.
Surging investment by Chinese companies in U.S. research labs is yielding a fast-growing trove of patents, part of a push to mine America for ideas to help China shift from being the world's factory floor to a driver of innovation.
German business leaders urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to take a tough line with Greece at an emergency summit of euro zone leaders later on Monday, saying only reform concessions from Athens could keep the country in the euro zone.
Greek shares .ATG rose 6.8 percent in morning trade on Monday on hopes that Greece was closer to reaching a deal with its international lenders.
The Greek central bank warned on Wednesday that the country would be put on a "painful course" towards default and exiting the euro zone if the government and its international creditors failed to reach an agreement on an aid-for-reforms deal.
Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Tuesday he was confident a deal would soon be found to keep Greece in the euro zone and even if it did exit, the currency bloc was now much better placed to withstand the shock.
Greece's government is confident of reaching a deal with its creditors this week and is open to pushing back parts of its anti-austerity program to make that happen, the country's interior minister said Saturday.
