contagion

Nov. 14 -- Former European Union Competition Commissioner Mario Monti will head a new government as Italy reaches outside the political arena for a leader to restore confidence in its ability to cut the euro region's second-biggest debt.

Losses on Wall Street deepened in afternoon trading after borrowing costs for Italy cracked a key barrier.

Here is a recap of the top 10 news items from this week on Wall Street: 1. The stock market had a horrendous week, period.

After declining more than 4 percent last week, the US's major averages plunged another 6 percent this week.

The Dow fell to as low as 11,139. While Friday's session was extremely volatile, the most action seemingly came on Thursday when the Dow sank by more than 500 points. 2.

Italy and Prime Minister Berlusconi garnered the most headlines out of Euro this week as the nation is aiming to avoid as much of the debt-contagion fears

Greece was upbraided at a recent meeting for not pushing faster on privatization and tax overhauls amid fears of market contagion for other euro zone members.

Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street: 1. To start the week, the EU announced a nearly trillion dollar bailout plan to stop the debt contagion fears that have gripped Europe sparked by problems in Greece.

Stocks soared early in the week on the news, only to give up much of those gains as many realize the problems in the Eurozone are far from over.

The euro continued to plummet against the dollar, falling as low as $1.2361 - an 18 month low. 2. Gold rose to a new all time high

Pity that this new nervousness about Europe, to which we can add concern that the Chinese regime is engineering an economic slowdown to head off the bursting of a credit bubble, is taking some of the shine off the recovery now clearly underway in the U.S.

The jobs situation has turned around.

Central bankers and government officials will be watching for signs that the fears of contagion are contained or spreading as markets elsewhere open.

Dubai’s request to suspend debt repayments sent European markets spiraling downward, though some analysts suggested fears of contagion were unfounded.