Pressure on continuing concerns about the eurozone debt crisis－finance168財經學院(百萬部落格)

'Too little too late'

While the eurozone debt crisis has been a cause of concern for some time, it has so far affected relatively smaller economies such as Greece and Portugal. However, as the crisis spreads to bigger nations such as Spain and Italy, there are fears that growth in the region may slow even further.

Analysts said that this was one reason why stock markets in the US and Europe fell on Monday, despite the initial euphoria over the 100bn-euro ($125bn; £80bn) bailout of Spain's banks announced over the weekend.

On Monday, New York's Dow Jones share index fell 1.1%, while in Europe London's FTSE 100 closed down 2.7 points. The French and German indexes were little changed.

"The eurozone crisis needs much more than short-term measures - but all the investors are seeing is political infighting rather than a collective long-term plan," Justin Harper of IG Markets told the BBC. "The European policy makers are slow to react to the issues. They are doing too little, too late."

Broader falls

Brent Crude dropped almost 1% in early trade to as low as $96.62 a barrel. US light crude fell $1.15 to $81.55 a barrel. Analysts said the latest fears arising from the eurozone had added to worries about a global slowdown, hurting demand for oil.

They said that a fragile recovery in the US coupled with slowing growth in emerging markets such as China and India had hit investor sentiment.

"It is a continued set of bad news from all across the globe, and we have been belted with it for months on end without any let up," said David Lennox, a resources analysts with Fat Prophets in Sydney. Mr Lennox added that if global economic uncertainty continues and oil production levels remain the same, prices may fall even further.