World Leaders Mobilize To Contain European Debt Crisis

French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefed the media yesterday about plans by their respective countries to bail out troubled banks in the Eurozone especially Grecian banks.

Sarkozy stated, “we will recapitalize the banks”, and further stated, “We’ll do it in complete agreement with our German friends because the economy needs it, to assure growth and financing.”

Major European indexes including the STOXX 50, FTSE 100 and DAX were up this morning, even as the Euro was up 1.6% against the dollar, possibly signaling a restoration of market confidence.

Also fueling cautious optimism is a statement issued by Arkady Dvorkovich, senior adviser on Economic Matters to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. At a conference in Moscow earlier today, he disclosed that Russia stands ready to start buying Spanish government bonds after previously halting their purchases of the sovereign’s instruments.
According to the Kremlin’s senior adviser, “We are waiting for a European declaration of a concrete, clear strategy to exit the crisis,” Dvorkovich further said, “If this strategy will require help from Russia and other BRICS countries, we are ready to extend support.”

The BRIC countries are an acronym that represent Brazil, Russia, India and China, however South Africa is considered a member of the BRIC block.