TIMES ONLINE: European and American stock markets plunged yesterday as investors took fright over the difficulties in debt-ridden countries such as Greece and Portugal and fears mounted over the health of the world’s biggest economy.
There were concerns that Greece may not meet its tough budget plans as workers started the first in a wave of strikes, prompting worries that Spain, Portugal and the Irish Republic may also struggle to cut their soaring debts. In a sign of the scale of the problems, a gauge of the perceived credit risk of Western European nations overtook that of the most stable US companies for the first time. >>> Gary Parkinson and Gráinne Gilmore | Friday, February 5, 2010
