Financial Regulatory Forum

By Mike Dolan

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) – Whether the euro zone is at the middle or end of its existential sovereign debt crisis, investors are starting to take a fresh look at the region’s assets and wondering if this year’s market panic was overdone.

Few analysts would be brave, or rash, enough to sound an “all-clear” on the regional financing storm — one seeded by Greek government profligacy and dodgy statistics but which also exposed flaws in the single currency’s framework and spread rapidly to other highly-indebted euro governments.

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(James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)

By Jim Saft

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., July 8 (Reuters) – How are European officials orchestrating the bank stress tests like Pacific islanders speaking into coconuts and waiting for cargo to drop from the skies?

They both make the elemental error at the heart of all cargo cults; they mistake necessity for sufficiency and hope that imitation and affect will make up for a lack of substance.

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By Timothy Heritage

BRUSSELS, July 9 (Reuters) – Gloom over the future of the euro zone is starting to lift after months of crisis, with policy makers sounding increasingly confident that the worst is over.

There are still plenty of risks. Economic growth is fragile, governments must keep the political will to impose austerity steps for years to come, and small banks in the hardest-hit countries remain unable to borrow in the markets, making them dependent on the European Central Bank for funds.

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