Financial analysts see a roughly one in three chance of Greece restructuring its debt sometime in the next five years, and an approximately one in ten chance of it leaving the euro zone, a Reuters poll showed. The poll of 54 economists, who mostly responded before Standard and Poor's downgraded Greek debt to junk status

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble hosted a news conference with ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet and IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn after they met German lawmakers on Wednesday. Trichet and Strauss-Kahn met the lawmakers to discuss the economic situation in Athens, where ECB and IMF officials are negotiating a three year fiscal authority plan as a

In its annual credit report on Iceland, Moody's Investors Service said that the country's economy has stabilized somewhat following its massive banking and currency crisis, but fiscal tightening and weak investment will cause the recession to linger well into 2010. The recovery is also threatened by the continued failure to reach an agreement over the

Moody's Investors Service expectss a rebound in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the European insurance sector after a period of market fragility that had pressured the volume of M&A during 2008-2009. The rating agency observed that, in line with the trend in the rest of the European financial services industry, the European insurance sector recorded

In a new special comment, Moody's Investors Service said that in the near term it will likely maintain a negative outlook for most of the banking systems in 12 countries within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Baltic States and Eastern Europe. In the recent past, Moody’s has maintained a negative outlook on all

Fears that a planned rescue of Greece could stall and extend the financial crisis to other euro zone countries hit European markets on Wednesday as investors worried that Athens may default on its debt. A day after rating agency Standard and Poor's slashed Greek debt to junk status, the premium investors demand to hold Greek

The Federal Reserve is expected on Wednesday to repeat its vow to keep interest rates at rock bottom levels for "an extended period" while acknowledging that the U.S. economic recovery is getting stronger. A flare up of financial turmoil in Europe, caused by concerns that Greece and Portugal might default on debt, should reinforce the

Stock index futures pointed to a flat to slightly higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday following the previous session's sell-off, which was triggered by the downgrade of Greece and Portugal credit ratings, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and statement on the economy. At 3:40 a.m. ET, futures for the S&P

Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it struck a licensing deal with phone handset maker HTC Corp, under which it will get royalty payments on HTC phones running Google Inc's Android operating system. Microsoft, which holds a wide range of software patents, did not say exactly what technology in the phones the agreement concerns. The deal