With Greece inching closer to the brink of financial collapse, fear that the debt crisis will spread rattled markets for a second day Wednesday, while an extraordinary collection of global financial leaders gathered in Berlin to seek a solution.

Shares fell 2 percent or more across Europe and parts of Asia as investors increasingly wonder if Portugal, Spain and even Ireland may not be able to borrow the billions of dollars they need to finance their government spending.

“It’s like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns,” said Philip Lane, a professor of international economics at Trinity College in Ireland, referring to the Wall Street failures that propelled the financial crisis of 2008. “It is not so much the fundamentals as it is the unwillingness of the market to fund you.”

Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s debt to junk level on Tuesday, warning that bondholders could face losses of up to half of their holdings in a restructuring. The agency also downgraded Portugal’s debt by two notches.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Credit Markets • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Greece • Portugal

1. Dilbertnomore wrote: Certainly, the PIIGS will go down first. They will drag others in Europe along with them. What I want to know is what place in the queue has been reserved for the United States? Our recent national fiscal decisions and implemented policies surely shows our leaders are doing all possible to move us up in that most undesirable queue. April 28, 10:52 am | [comment link]

2. Bill Matz wrote: S&P just downgraded Spain. Euro down again. April 28, 11:50 am | [comment link]

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