MoneyWeek Roundup: Stalin, austerity and bunga-bunga parties

James McKeigue with the week's best pieces from the MoneyWeek team, including: a bargain stock from a bargain sector; why gold has toppled; and why austerity is easier if you're more used to Stalin than bunga-bunga parties.

She did it. On Thursday, German chancellor Angela Merkel persuaded her coalition government to back the latest plan to save the eurozone. German politicians agreed to expand the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) also known as the great big bail-out fund - to €440bn.

If just four more members of her coalition had voted against her, she'd have had to rely on the opposition. And that would have weakened the authority of the eurozone's most important politician. But instead victory belonged to a beaming Merkel and global stock markets bounced on the news.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.