Topic: Economy (Global)

"The distinction between Greece and Italy from the point of view of markets is massively different" than a few years ago, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti told CNBC.

The Greek cabinet approved a draft bill spelling out reforms required by the EU and the IMF on Friday, taking Athens closer to getting a new 130 billion-euro bailout after the prime minister warned the alternative was "catastrophe."

The credit rating agency Standard & Poors has downgraded 34 out of 37 Italian banks it reviewed, citing the italian banking industry and the country's general economic risk  as reasons for the downgrade.

Portugal's economy will shrink as much as Greece's this year, according to IMF projections. But Portugal has political support that Greece does not, making a second bailout likely.

Breaking in is difficult due to a lack of investment vehicles, limited access to buyers and sellers and varying pricing models.

After appearing to be resolved, Greece's bailout is unraveling again. Renewed fears of a Greek default sparked a broad selloff in financial markets Friday.

The danger of disaster in the financial markets has receded since the start of the year, after additional liquidity injections, one strategist told CNBC Friday.

Greece's largest police union has threatened to issue arrest warrants for officials from the country's European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders for demanding deeply unpopular austerity measures.

The U.S. trade deficit widened slightly more than expected in December, and the bilateral trade deficit with China last year soared to a record high $295.5 billion.

A negotiated agreement to provide further aid for Greece is "much better" than a Greek exit from the euro, not just the country itself but for the wider euro zone as well, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told CNBC.

Tracking China's economic course during the Lunar New Year can leave analysts howling at the moon. January auto sales tumbled, yet oil imports were the third highest on record. A closer examination of the data show bearish signals lurking beneath confusing headlines.

European Union diplomats and the European Parliament agreed on Thursday to overhaul regulation of the roughly $700 trillion derivatives market, a move that will make it easier to control one of the most opaque areas of finance.

Striking Greek workers denounced a new wave of austerity on Friday as an imposition too far by Europe and the IMF.

Global oil demand will grow in 2012 despite a weak economic environment, the International Energy Agency said in a new report, but a “two-speed” outlook prevails, with robust oil demand in emerging economies and falling demand in developed economies.

For all the struggles that Greece has gone through to satisfy its demanding lenders, Europe’s troubles are not going away, the New York Times reports.