Marketplace Morning Report for Friday, December 20, 2013
The Standard and Poor's credit rating agency has stripped the entire European Union of its AAA rating. The EU has been bailing out some of weaker countries and the downgrade is a comment on the donor countries' willingness to keep paying. Negotiations over a trade deal among a dozen Pacific Rim countries, including the U.S., are expected to resume next month, after the latest round of talks stalled. One sticking point is intellectual property -- a great interest to Hollywood, which wants to protect its copyrights for as long as possible. This week, Marketplace has been looking at youth unemployment in Europe. The numbers are terrifying. Among 18 to 24 year olds in Greece, 60 percent are jobless. In southern Spain, it's 74 percent.
The Standard and Poor’s credit rating agency has stripped the entire European Union of its AAA rating. The EU has been bailing out some of weaker countries and the downgrade is a comment on the donor countries’ willingness to keep paying. Negotiations over a trade deal among a dozen Pacific Rim countries, including the U.S., are expected to resume next month, after the latest round of talks stalled. One sticking point is intellectual property — a great interest to Hollywood, which wants to protect its copyrights for as long as possible. This week, Marketplace has been looking at youth unemployment in Europe. The numbers are terrifying. Among 18 to 24 year olds in Greece, 60 percent are jobless. In southern Spain, it’s 74 percent.
