The Dow is already up 15% this year, despite a battle in Congress over the federal deficit and a banking crisis in Cyprus that threatened to derail the euro zone's recent improvement.
Whereas the financial-banking crisis in 2008-2009 saw the U.S. government enacting bail-outs, the financial-banking crisis in Cyprus in March-April saw the local government enacting bail-ins.
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The Dow is already up 15% this year, despite a congressional battle over the federal deficit and a banking crisis in Cyprus that threatened a flare-up in the euro zone's continuing debt woes.
This was how the Irish banking system went into meltdown in 2010 and the precedents in Cyprus are likely to increase skittishness when banking problems rise to the fore again in other countries.
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Sentiment could shift, of course, if eruptions like the current crisis in the Cyprus banking sector undercut the continent's progress.
Nearly a third of all deposits in Cyprus' oversized banking sector are held by Russians.
Others saw it as an effort to protect banks in Cyprus, where the banking sector is eight times the size of the economy.
As suspected, the banking risks that erupted during the Cyprus crisis have accelerated the political pressure to forge a banking union in Europe.
The move drew immediate criticism, with some analysts saying that imposing bigger losses on Bank of Cyprus customers could further squeeze already crippled businesses as Cyprus tries to rebuild its banking sector in exchange for the international rescue package.
When Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 certain regulations and banking standards regarding business transparency had to be met.
"They discussed the situation in Cyprus, which underscored the importance of moving to full banking union, " one U.S. Treasury official said after the meeting.
Under the deal clinched in Brussels early Monday, Cyprus agreed to slash its oversized banking sector and inflict hefty losses on large Laiki and Bank of Cyprus depositors.
After the market's strong, steady rise to kick off the year, investors have been wrestling with a bout of volatility in recent days, thanks in part to concerns over a bailout of Cyprus's banking system.
Cyprus is an offshore banking haven, which makes it somewhat unique in that it holds billions in foreign deposits, mostly Russian.
These restrictions would "probably be a bit stricter" on the country's two largest banks, Bank of Cyprus and Laiki, and would remain in place until the banking system "stabilises", he said.
Confidence in the banking sector has been knocked and there may yet be a run on Cyprus's banks should their doors eventually re-open.
"A special operation is in progress in Cyprus, and its goal is far from saving the economy or the banking system, " the paper says.
Although European officials hastily abandoned original plans to impose losses even on insured depositors, and rushed to stress that Cyprus's problems were unique, savers in other countries, especially those whose banking sectors were under stress, appear to have feared that their savings could face similar treatment.
In the Cypriot banking crisis Germany was also one of the sharpest critics of the offshore model pursued by Cyprus, which attracted many rich Russians to the island and enabled them to avoid paying taxes at home.
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Finance Ministers began a conference to discuss Cyprus after market hours in Europe, with Bloomberg reporting at 14:23 Eastern Standard Time in the U.S. that the troika had approved at least one of 7 Cyprus banking bills submitted their way today.
The reasoning is that Cyprus might, indeed should, stay in the euro if it is going to save its banking system and avoid a massive deflation of the economy by doing so.
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