LUXEMBOURG — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that a European monetary fund to bail out eurozone nations in need would send a clear signal to markets speculating on the possible break-up of Europe's currency union.

She said Greece's debt crisis is forcing the European Union to make changes that would allow “coherent economic policy-making,” such as a bailout fund for the 16 countries that use the euro.

The euro has slid against the U.S. dollar in recent months on worries over Greece's soaring debt as markets questioned what would happen if a eurozone country were unable to pay its debts — and whether it could rely on help from bigger euro nations such as Germany.

Speaking after a meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the eurozone's finance ministers, she said a tighter framework that could handle a potential default by a eurozone country would send a clear “signal to markets that speculation cannot work.”

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March 8 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc. agreed to sell a division to MetLife Inc. for $15.5 billion in the bailed-out company’s second divestiture of a non-U.S. life insurance unit this month.

MetLife will pay $6.8 billion in cash and $8.7 billion in equity securities for American Life Insurance Co., the buyer said today in a statement.

AIG, led by Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche, announced on March 1 that it would sell AIA Group Ltd. to Prudential Plc for $35.5 billion, including $25 billion in cash. Both the deals this month exceed the sum of more than 20 earlier asset sales announced by New York-based AIG since its September 2008 bailout.

“AIG has pulled off two massive asset sales marking major milestones on its road to recovery,” said David Havens, managing director in credit trading at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York. “A year ago, AIG getting more than $50 billion for AIA and Alico, mostly in cash, seemed unthinkable.”

MetLife advanced 4.3 percent to $40.60 at 8:32 a.m. in early New York trading. AIG rose 3.5 percent to $29.05.

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March 4 (Bloomberg) -- As 2009 began, the world’s banks and brokers were in a deep hole. They had recorded some $1 trillion in credit losses and writedowns of their mortgage holdings in the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, and markets were still reeling. To recapitalize, they issued stock -- a lot of it.

More than half of the new shares sold worldwide in the first six months of 2009 were those of banks and brokers. That kept investment bankers busy marketing their own -- and each others’ -- shares, while their clients hunkered down waiting for the storm to pass, Bloomberg Markets reports in its April issue.

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ATHENS, Greece — Greece announced painful new austerity measures today worth euro4.8 billion ($6.5 billion) to deal with a financial crisis that has hammered the euro and unsettled financial markets.

The decisions were “not taken out of choice but out of necessity,” Prime Minister George Papandreou said as he briefed the country's president on the new measures, which are aimed at winning European Union support for Greece and calming financial markets.

“They were necessary for the survival of our country and our economy, and for Greece to escape the whirlwind of speculators.”

The measures contain euro2.4 billion ($3.3 billion) in new revenues such as taxes and another euro2.4 billion in spending cut. They include cuts in civil servants' salaries, pension freezes, increasing sales tax, or VAT, from 19 percent to 21 percent and hiking taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, luxury cars, yachts, precious stones and leather goods among others.

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks rose around the world, driving the MSCI Emerging Markets Index higher for the first time in four days, on evidence of sustained economic expansion. Zinc led a rally in metals.

The MSCI World Index of 23 developed nations’ stocks added 0.4 percent at 12:33 p.m. in London, while the emerging-markets gauge advanced 1 percent and futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.2 percent. Zinc gained 3.3 percent, its first increase in five days.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee predicted that the economy may grow at a 10 percent pace in the “not-too-distant future,” helping restore investor confidence that was rattled this week by warnings about Greece’s rising deficit. Britain emerged from recession at a faster pace than previously estimated in the fourth quarter, the government said. A U.S. report today may confirm that the world’s biggest economy expanded at a 5.7 percent clip in the fourth quarter.

for more go to http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3wevT4tpjaQ&pos=3