US Debt Spooking World Markets

With America's $14.3 billion potential default just nine days away, markets are growing increasingly spooked by the rising danger, reports the Telegraph. “We may have a few stressful days coming up—stressful for the markets of the world and the American people,” says White House chief of staff Bill Daley. Analysts blamed those worries for sending Asian markets down today, with the China's Shanghai Composite Index off 2.7%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 down 1.4%, and Japan's Nikkei, Korea's KOSPI, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index all declining 0.8%.

America's problems are rattling a still-shaky Europe, despite last week's eurozone deal to bail out Greece, with Britain's economy threatening to fall back into recession. “I think the icebergs are probably the worst in the lifetime of anyone now living," warned senior Parliament member Ken Clarke, who said it was good that Europe's leaders were finally dealing with their economic problems. “We are now waiting to see if the American political class can do the same thing in the next fortnight or so, and if they don’t do it by early August that is the next big iceberg coming toward us.” (More stock market stories.)