In Europe, April-June real GDP registered the first positive quarter-on-quarter growth in seven quarters, and the economy seems to have bottomed out. Severe fiscal austerity measures were revised, and downward pressure from the fiscal side has weakened somewhat. Financial markets, which were under pressure on a number of occasions during the past several years, have generally been stable.
In addition, both lenders and borrowers have a much wider range of instruments from which to choose the risk profile of their financial positions and to adjust that profile in response to changes in their own situations or in the overall financial and economic environment.