Ahead of curve on euro zone rescue debate, eurobond

Reuters was alone on Feb 16th with significant new comments from German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck on economic troubles in the euro zone. Steinbrueck told an SPD party conference in Duesseldorf that euro bloc states would have to come to the aid of a fellow member nation if one were to run into financial trouble. He also mentioned Ireland as being in a very difficult situation. It was the first time a German official had talked so openly about economic/fiscal divergences in the euro bloc and about the troubles of an individual member state. Steinbrueck was asked about the accuracy of the Reuters report on his comments at a news conference two days later and confirmed them — prompting a front-page Financial Times story on Thursday, three days after the Reuters report. Reuters stayed fast on the story and broke news from EU sources on Feb. 20 that the idea of a common euro zone bond, which might address the widening spreads for euro zone government debt and create a deep bond market to compete with US Treasuries, was taking shaping, although it faces significant hurdles.