Markets Rise But Questions Remain After Euro Debt Deal

October 27, 2011

A man walks past an index board at a hall of the Athens Stock Exchange in Athens October 27, 2011. Greek bank stocks jumped more than 13 percent in early morning trade on Thursday after euro zone leaders agreed a new rescue deal for Greece, despite plans for a 50 percent haircut on the country's government bonds.

Two years of crisis in the eurozone came down to this Brussels summit.

Europe’s leaders met through the night. After 11 hours of talks - with many journalists sleeping in the press room - German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among the leaders to emerge hailing a breakthrough.

“I am aware, and everybody was aware that the whole world was looking at this meeting,” she said. “That we can show the world how we can guard ourselves from this deep economic crisis. And I think that tonight we Europeans have taken the right measures.”

Global markets agreed. Share indices across Europe, Asia and the United States all showed early gains Thursday.

But the optimism may be short-lived, says Tobias Blattner, European economist at Daiwa Capital Markets.

“Now the question is obviously, ‘How long will it last?’ And I think this is where we are skeptical and we think it will be a very short-lived episode simply because the summit yesterday left too many questions open," said Blattner.