Friday’s Mid-Day Movers: 3 Stories Driving Markets

The U.S. equity markets were posting solid gains on Friday afternoon, despite ongoing concerns about the stability of the euro currency bloc.

Here are three stories moving markets on Friday afternoon:

1) Cyprus will remain in sharp focus over the weekend as the clock winds down on the emergency line of credit that the ECB has extended to the nation’s top banks. If the island nation does not either agree to European bailout conditions — which will probably take the form of a controversial levy against deposits — the ECB has threatened to cut off emergency funding to its top banks. In such a case, the banks are likely to collapse and send a shock wave through the euro zone and shake global investor confidence.

With a possible Russian-backed financing measure apparently grounded, Cypriot leaders have turned toward a radical option, in which pensions would be nationalized… (Read more.)