Markets Magazine
Lagarde Saving Europe Proves Being First Isn’t What’s Electable
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Christine Lagarde, France’s finance minister, was at her Normandy weekend home on Saturday, May 8, juggling calls from President Nicolas Sarkozy, German finance chief Wolfgang Schaeuble and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Frenchman atop the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg Markets reports in its August issue.
The euro was plunging, the Euro Stoxx 50 index had dropped 11 percent since May 1 and concern was rising that Greece and other southern European nations would default on their debt. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, in a Friday conference call with Group of Seven officials, had been clear: Investors wanted action.