Stocks and the Euro Fall as Borrowing Costs Remain High

PARIS — Stocks and the euro fell Wednesday in Europe and Asia, and Wall Street appeared headed for early weakness, as Italian bonds traded at levels suggesting investors remain skeptical about the incoming government of Mario Monti to restore economic growth while simultaneously implementing the austerity measures the bond market is demanding.

Mr. Monti, who is taking over after former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi proved unable to arrest the market attacks on Italian debt, was to present his government later Wednesday. Mr. Monti on Tuesday expressed his conviction that the day could still be saved.

Still, in afternoon trading, Italian government 10-year bonds were yielding 6.96 percent, a level seen by many in the market as too high to allow for a near-term restoration of the country’s finances. Equivalent French and Spanish bonds, which were sold heavily on Tuesday, were little changed at troublingly high levels: French at 3.57 percent and Spanish at 6.24 percent.

Intervention in the bond market by the European Central Bank was helping to support euro-zone government debt, news agencies reported.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of euro zone blue chips, fell 0.3 percent, while the FTSE 100 index in London fell 1.1 percent.

Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell, indicating New York stocks were likely to decline at the opening bell. The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent on Tuesday.

U.S. crude oil futures fell 0.6 percent to $98.77 a barrel. Comex gold futures fell 0.5 percent to $1,773.10 an ounce.

The dollar rose against most other major currencies. The euro fell to $1.3469 from $1.3539 late Tuesday in New York, while the British pound fell to $1.5778 from $1.5822. The dollar rose to 0.9185 Swiss francs from 0.9150 francs. But the dollar lost ground against the Japanese currency, falling to 76.92 yen from 77.03 yen.

Asian shares were down across the board. The Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 0.9 percent, as did the S&P/ASX 200 index in Sydney.In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 2.0 percent and in Shanghai the composite index fell 2.5 percent.