The euro fell to a fresh 15-month low against the dollar today while stock markets continued to give up some of their early-year gains as European debt concerns offset mounting optimism over the state of the US economy.

EUROPEAN banks are struggling to find buyers for at least €24 billion of businesses earmarked for sale as the sovereign debt crisis drags on, raising the likelihood they’ll have to settle for fire-sale prices.

THE European Central Bank said it will lend dollars to eurozone banks in a series of three-month loans as the region’s debt crisis limits market access to the US currency.

THE euro weakened against most major counterparts on speculation the European Central Bank (ECB) has finished raising rates as the region’s sovereign-debt crisis curbs economic growth.

CONCERNS about the mounting debt of Greece has got the anti-euro tongues wagging at a frenetic pace.

Investigators at Societe Generale SA say they suspect former futures trader Jerome Kerviel was helped by an assistant to cover up massive trading positions that led to a multibillion euro loss.

Troubled French bank Societe Generale SA will publish two related reports today into what went wrong during a multi-billion-euro trading scandal uncovered in January this year.

The stock market finished with a sharp loss today after bleak readings on the economy heightened investors’ fears of a recession. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 140 points.

French stocks fell after crude oil rose to a record, spurring concern that rising fuel costs will damp earnings growth.

AS the European Commission forecasts rising growth for the eurozone, a new report raises serious doubts about this economy’s ability to win a slice of that expanding market.

CRUDE oil topped $57 a barrel in New York for the first time since April over concern refiners may struggle to meet a fourth-quarter peak in demand for winter fuels.