New Risk Seen in Euro-Denominated Securities

As European leaders struggle to get their sovereign debt crisis under control, banks and other financial institutions around the world suddenly are preparing for the once unthinkable prospect of a partial or even full breakup of the single currency zone. Optimism over plans to turn the euro zone into a fiscal stability union, announced at a summit last week, was fading earlier this week, when Italian bond yields rose back above the 6.5 percent level.