Usually these retail investors turn to wholesalers (banks frequently have both in-house) who sell them financial products of various kinds, from the most simple, such as government bonds, to the most complex, such as derivatives, depending on the sophistication of the final customer.
Pessimism about these countries’ fiscal and economic situations, in turn, has undermined confidence in the strength of European financial institutions, increasing the cost and difficulty those institutions have faced in obtaining funding and reducing their willingness to supply credit. The difficulties in the euro area have affected the U.S. economy. The European Union accounts for roughly one-fifth of U.S. exports of goods and services.