Eurozone crisis: Sarkozy, Merkel and Monti meet after German debt auction - live

Can the leaders of the eurozone's three biggest economies make a breakthrough in Strasbourg today?

8.42am: Japan's main share index has closed at its lowest level for two and a half years, hit by Europe's debt woes - and predictions that the global economy is on the brink of another recession.

The Nikkei fell by 1.8%, with traders expressing exasperation that EU leaders have made so little progress in recent weeks:

Andrew Sullivan at Piper Jaffray in Hong Kong said:

People are just seriously concerned that Europe hasn't come up with a concrete plan to try to resolve its debt issues and how it's going to pay for them.

In the City, there's little relief after yesterday's losses -- the FTSE 100 is up just 9 points at 5149. With Wall Street closed for Thanksgiving, markets could be quieter.

But as Terry Pratt of IG Markets warned:

That failed German bond auction stands to haunt markets for some time yet.

8.30am: Good morning, and welcome to another day of rolling coverage of the eurozone crisis.

If it's Thursday, it must be Strasbourg. That's where Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Mario Monti will meet to discuss how Europe should address the debt crisis.

Those talks have taken on new urgency after yesterday's weak auction of German debt -- could that persuade the eurozone's two biggest economies to resolve their differences?

That Bund auction dominates the financial pages of the newspapers - we'll be watching for more reaction today (German bond yields are already climbing higher in early trading).

We'll also be keeping an eye on Greece, which is running out of time (again!) to persuade its lenders to hand over more aid. And in the UK, the second reading of GDP data for the last quarter will show whether Britain did grow at 0.5%, as initially estimated.


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