Fear that the debt crisis in Europe is spreading has sent investors running for the exits, hammering both global equities and the euro.

The world's leading credit ratings agencies have been threatened with tighter regulation and break-up by some of Europe's most powerful politicians.

VW's TAP system creates some very smart cars, writes Matt Greenop

The tone on Wall Street and Europe's equity markets remained positive overnight amid optimism the EU is making progress in its efforts to avert a Greek default.

World markets fell overnight, pulled down by poor economic news and the surprise announcement that the International Energy Agency would release oil from strategic reserves.

The danger in that case would be that, as in the global financial crisis three years ago, everyone in the market starts looking sideways at their counterparts and worrying about how much they might be exposed.