Buoyed by new opinion polls showing a lead for his center-right coalition, Berlusconi said on Friday Italy must return to the polls quickly unless the center left agrees to govern with him.
Italy's fiscal deficit narrowed in the final quarter of 2012 to 1.4 percent of gross domestic product, compared with 2.6 percent in the same period of 2011.
Restructuring specialist Hilco said on Friday it had bought British entertainment retailer HMV, securing the future of the 92-year-old high street firm and 2,500 jobs.
Two senior executives at Bank of Cyprus may have deleted crucial e-mail documents last year, according to an investigative report commissioned by the central bank of Cyprus, the NYT reports.
Buoyed by new opinion polls showing a lead for his center-right coalition, Berlusconi said on Friday Italy must return to the polls quickly unless the center left agrees to govern with him.
Spain's banking bailout last year is now a distant memory. But according to one strategist, Spain's fragile economy now faces the possibility of tipping over into a renewed credit crunch.
Interest in bitcoins has reached fever pitch around the world helping the price soar to an all-time high earlier this week, and Finland is firmly tuned into the zeitgeist more so than even the U.S. or Japan.
Davide Serra, founder and CEO of Algebris Investments, tells CNBC why he doesn't expect Europe to become like Japan, suggesting that the ECB's help is much more conditional than its BoJ counterpart.
Brendan Callan, CEO of FXCM Europe, says there is a disproportionate number of foreign exchange firms in Cyprus, because it's easy to get registered there due to relaxed regulations.
Ian Harnett, European strategist at Absolute Strategy Research, says investors should not "play the fundamental game" as it is still a risk-on, risk-off market.
European shares opened mixed on Friday as investors await the latest U.S. jobs data to provide an indication of whether the world's largest economy is recovering.
Kit Juckes, global head of FX strategy at Societe Generale, tells CNBC austerity is the wrong policy for Europe and that the region is heading towards a "lost decade" for growth.
Bank chiefs at HBOS, once one of Britain's biggest banks, were condemned as a "model of self-delusion", in a damming report by Britain's Banking Standards Commission on Friday.
France urged Germany on Thursday to grant it more time to hit its public deficit-cutting target, but denied it was turning into the new "sick man of Europe" even as data pointed to a deepening French downturn.
Global central banks are accelerating mostly ineffective policies because they feel they have no choice but to keep trying, Pimco's Mohamed El-Erian told CNBC.
European shares plummeted on Friday after U.S. jobs data came in well below expectations, raising concerns that the recovery in the world's largest economy is weakening.
Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays, tells CNBC that investors don't have enough risk in their portfolios, so should take advantage of a positive signs coming from the US and Europe.