Bernanke: No major damage to U.S. banks from Italy

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Bernanke: No major damage to U.S. banks from Italy
from MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - A hypothetical writedown of Italian debt would not inflict serious damage on U.S. financial institutions, said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday "Our assessments of our banking exposure to Italian and Spanish debt is that it is moderate," Bernanke said. However, serious concerns about Italy's ability to remain in the euro would have broader, more unpredictable, and more concerning effects on global stock and bond markets, and this would put more pressure on banks than direct losses from Italian debt holdings, he said.