Euro and markets sink as Germany fails to attract debt buyers

European equity markets and the euro fell deeper into the red today as Germany failed to attract buyers to its latest government debt auction.

Germany failed to attract enough bids to its €6bn debt auction today, a further sign the sovereign crisis in the eurozone is intensifying. As investors shun the German bund, which until recently was considered a safe haven, the euro slid 1% to €1.33 against the US dollar (the first time it has dipped below €1.34 since 9 October) and more than 0.5% against sterling to €0.85. The FTSE 100 was down 0.55% to 5,178 points around midday while the CAC 40 fell 0.22% to 2,864 and the DJ Eurostoxx 50 dropped 0.37% to 2,129 points. Meanwhile, US markets also opened lower with banks suffering ...