Stocks in Europe and Italian fixed-income securities were pummelled on concern about the euro zone's debt crisis. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index ended the day with a 4.1 per cent drop.

A Shareholders' group has welcomed punishment imposed on 'inept' finance company chiefs.

Normalising profits to bury the bottom line shouldn't be the norm.

Wall St was mixed overnight as investors mostly welcomed data showing US business activity and factory orders accelerated more than expected.

New forecasts from the NZIER say the economy is growing slowly this year and keep growing next year, but exports are threatened by a potential global slowdown.

Consumer and business confidence in Europe and the US has been hammered this past month, unsurprisingly, and yet stocks are mixed on Wall St.

Better-than-expected US consumer spending and a deal to merge two top Greek banks helped bolster investor optimism overnight.