Chief Portfolio Strategist Dr. Brian Jacobsen, CFA, CFP^®, and Chief Equity Strategist John Manley share their thoughts on this week’s European Union summit.

Although details are lacking, which we should be used to by now with these summits, today’s news from Europe seems to be a step in the right direction. Instead of having the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) lend money to governments, who then would need to recapitalize their banks, the ESM is going to bypass the national governments and inject capital directly into the banks. This should help governments’ balance sheets from getting leveraged up as they attempt to bailout their overly leveraged banks.

…

Credit –

Pushed toward a step in the right direction