Euro at 11-Month Low

Selloff Comes After Period of Resilience for the Currency

The Wall Street Journal

By TOM LAURICELLA

… ECB officials feel governments are moving more aggressively to address the debt crisis…

… recession in Greece is turning out to be deeper than expected…

… Betting on a lower euro had been a particularly fruitless trade for many hedge funds…

…"The general consensus is that each time the fiscal authorities don't come up with concrete, well-funded plans, the probability increases that the ECB has to step in,"…

Merkel Calls for More 'Concrete' Union

The Wall Street Journal

By WILLIAM BOSTON and MARCUS WALKER

Ms. Merkel's first challenge, however, is to overcome her differences about the way forward with French President Nicolas Sarkozy…

… that euro members would have to accept a loss of national sovereignty, and that there is no quick fix to the crisis.

… they are prepared to sign a fiscal pact among the euro zone's 17 governments if the wider, 27-country EU won't agree…

…massive ECB intervention, …, if it doesn't work, could leave Europe staring into the abyss with no more cards to play…

…the potential for bondholder losses in future has helped to undermine investors' confidence…

Europe's Leaders Pursue New Pact

Deal Would Bring Closer Fiscal Ties

By MARCUS WALKER, DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS and BRIAN BLACKSTONE

The Wall Street Journal

Euro-zone leaders are negotiating a potentially groundbreaking fiscal pact….

… persuade the European Central Bank to undertake more drastic action…

… a centralized fiscal-enforcement authority with power to seize control of national budgets…

It isn't clear how the ECB would respond to such a pact…