European shares are expected to open higher Friday, regaining ground lost after a big selloff on Thursday that was sparked by worries that Spain’s financial situation could flare into another Greece-style crisis.
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The FTSE 100 is seen higher by 37 points at the opening bell, Germany's DAX is seen up by 57 points and the CAC higher by 33 points.
A Eurogroup meeting taking place in Copenhagen today is likely to be dominated by the issue of how large to make the Europe’s financial “firewall,” the rescue fund designed to prevent the debt crisis from spreading.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said that the euro zone should not commit more than 800 billion euros to the combined fund, but a Reuters report on Friday indicated that euro zone finance ministers will raise the firepower of the region's two bailout funds to as much as 940 billion euros.
Markets will be closely watching Spain on Friday as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy delivers his first budget since winning elections last year. His government faces both domestic pressure to ease austerity plans and international pressure to cut the country’s budget deficit target.
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