An investment vehicle for the virtual currency bitcoin has gained backing from some prominent investment firms, according to its parent company Pantera Capital Management. more...

Financial advisers who gathered to hear leaders impart their best investment ideas were given a surprising tip: Bitcoin. The FT reports. more...

David Malpass, Encima Global, and CNBC's Simon Hobbs provide perspective on whether France and Germany are likely to boost the euro zone's rescue fund to two trillion euros. more...

Discussing Europe's debt crisis and whether the EFSF will fund the bailout to the tune of 2 trillion euros; and Moody's downgrades Spain, with Larry McDonald, Newedge. Also, CNBC's Jon Fortt has the latest details from Apple's conference call. more...

Stocks soared to session highs after the Guardian reported that France and Germany have agreed to boost the EU rescue fund, with Mark Jordahl, US Bancorp Wealth Mgmt.; and Steve Neimeth, SunAmerica Asset Mgmt. more...

Robert Howe, CEO of Geomatrix expects Europe's crisis to worsen and banks to become insolvent if Greek debt is written down. more...

Slovakia's parliament may vote on the expansion of the euro zone's bailout fund as soon as mid October, but the risk of a Greek default is still possible, Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova told CNBC in an interview in Bratislava. more...

"The EFSF, according to Timothy Geithner, has got to be leveraged up to provide money. "The fact of the matter is, the EFSF looks like a CDO [collateralised debt obligation]. Now they are creating a CDO-Squared. Isn't this how we got into this problem in the first place?" Satyajit Das, author of...

Stocks have rallied in recent days on hopes that European Union leaders and policy-makers are close to an agreement that would significantly increase the firepower of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF)-- essentially the euro zone's rescue fund for troubled member states -- so that it...

Those who see emerging market debt as a safe haven should think again, according to Mike Riddel, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London. more...

Goldman Sachs Group is shuttering a well-known hedge fund that relies on computer-driven trading strategies after the portfolio rang up a hefty loss this year. more...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner holds talks with European finance ministers on Friday on the possibility of leveraging the euro zone's bailout fund to help resolve the debt crisis. more...

Italian bond purchases helped spark a huge late day turnaround on Wall Street. Insight on where investors can find value, with Bill Greiner, Scout Investments, and Anthony Chan, J.P. Morgan. more...

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France's top AAA credit rating is likely to be downgraded and Germany could easily follow as the costs of bailing out weaker euro zone economies push up their own debt piles, says credit hedge fund firm Cairn Capital's chief investment strategist. more...

The West is close the point where its paper currency system is insolvent, and as a result gold is heading to $5,000 an ounce, according to the manager of a gold fund. more...

It is inevitable that the US will default when the debt ceiling deadline on August 2 comes around, David Murrin, chief investment officer at Emergent Asset Management told CNBC. more...

Japanese fund managers' global bond weighting is near a record high while their stock weighting has sunk towards a 12-year low, showing worries over a slowdown in global economic growth and rising commodity prices made them reduce risky positions, a Reuters poll showed.* more...

Following a disappointing bond auction in Madrid on Thursday, the firewall that markets thought existed between Greece, Portugal and Ireland and the much bigger and systemic economies of Spain and Italy is in danger of being shown to be an illusion, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at...

The European bail-out fund should be doubled to 1,500 billion euros ($2.15 trillion) if politicians want private sector investors to participate in a second bail-out package for Greece, a European Central Bank governing council director said. more...