Europe bombs bigger test: growth

Europe's banks aced their stress tests. Too bad the region's economies are just scraping by with a gentleman's C.

Tests administered by European bank supervisors showed just seven of 91 major banks need to raise more capital, officials said Friday. Though skeptics predictably savaged the tests as too easy, the exercise suggests policymakers will pull every lever to prevent a banking meltdown in the next two years.

Another day older and MORE

Europe's banks score an A on stress tests

Just seven banks failed Europe's stress tests, officials said Friday.

That means 92% of the continent's lenders passed the tests, whose results were announced Friday by European officials led by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors.

European banks in the clear?

The supervisors, together with national governments and the European Central Bank, conducted the tests in a bid to quell fears about the Continent's finances at a time of intense economic uncertainty.

So MORE

U.S. less stressed

As investors await the results of Europe's stress tests, a measure of U.S. financial stress is slipping.

The St. Louis Fed's financial stress index dropped for the second straight week last week. The index measures the level of several interest rates, the size of spreads between various market indicators and a few other variables such as volatility.

Less stress stateside

A spike last month spurred by questions about the value of European MORE

Treasury selling more Citi stock

The great Citigroup sellathon resumes today.

Treasury said Friday it will resume selling Citi (C) shares under a yearlong plan to liquidate a giant stake it acquired in bailing out the New York-based lender.

Treasury's stake has dropped but the stock hasn't

Treasury got 7.7 billion shares in Citigroup last year in return for aid extended during the financial crisis of late 2008 and early 2009. Last December, the government announced a plan MORE

News sweep: July 22

Analyst Richard X. Bove (right) prevails in BankAtlantic clash.

The X man winneth

Why Spain should hold off on the cutbacks.

Foreign exchange: 'the world's biggest fruit and vegetable store.'

St. Louis Fed calls for physical stress tests.

Finding Europe's banking skeletons

We're about to learn where the skeletons are buried in Europe's banks.

European officials are scheduled to issue report cards Friday afternoon following stress tests of 91 major banks. The tests will rate how big banks would fare in another economic downturn.

Time for Eurobanks to show the money.

Bank supervisors and officials at the European Union want to publish the results to ease fears that another banking meltdown is on the MORE

Pimco calls U.S. 'teen drama economy'

Spare the rod, spoil the economy.

That's the message Thursday from Pimco, the big bond manager run by the talkative Bill Gross (right) and owned by giant insurer Allianz of Germany.

No, you can't have the car this decade

In a viewpoint piece posted on the firm's web site, a Pimco executive dubs the United States the "teen drama economy," saying growth and jobs won't return till policymakers show some guts and take an axe MORE

All hail the flight to safety

A Fed report documents the flood of money into U.S. Treasurys since the financial crisis started.

The report, issued by St. Louis Fed economists Bryan J. Noeth and Rajdeep Sengupta, notes the "anomalous behavior in the market for Treasuries" since the financial crisis struck three years ago.

Can Treasurys keep it up?

The government has sharply increased the pace and size of debt sales, to cover a growing spending tab in a MORE

Bernanke's Bunker Hill

Ben Bernanke is adamant that he isn't out of bullets.

But the Fed chief wants to see the whites of the next downturn's eyes before he pulls the trigger on another round of monetary stimulus.

Are the deflationcoats coming?

Bernanke was on Capitol Hill Wednesday to offer the Fed's semiannual monetary policy report to Congress. His appearance comes a week after the Fed revealed it had downgraded its economic growth forecasts.

The slowdown set market MORE

IMF backs broader stress test in Europe

The sovereign debt scare that rattled Europe this spring must serve as a "wake-up call" for reform, the IMF said Wednesday.

The International Monetary Fund said Europe must act boldly to restore confidence after a brush with insolvency in Greece fed questions about the region's future.

Do the banks' numbers compute?

The IMF said it expects the euro area's economy to expand just 1% this year and 1.25% next, amid fears that surging MORE