The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • B9

The Boston Globe Business B9 Watching France, investors cross their fingers MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2011 ing than their rivals elsewhere, leaving them vulnerable if Italy's problems create a Lehman-like freeze in credit markets. For the moment, the ascent of a new interim government in Rome has calmed those fears. French politicians, regulators, and bankers insist Italy's problems are contained. But French banks have traditionally turned to American money-market funds to finance the gap between what they possess in deposits and what they owe, and though French banks have cut this borrowing substantially in recent months, it is still huge. At the end of October, US money-market funds owned $84 billion worth of French debt.

By Liz Alderman and Nelson D. Schwartz NEWYORK TIMES NEW YORK First it was Athens. Then Rome. Could Paris be next? While Italy has replaced Greece as the focus of anxiety in Europe's worsening debt crisis, investors are increasingly concerned about France, whose banks are among the world's biggest and are closely linked with their US counterparts. One crucial gauge of investor sentiment, the difference between what France pays to borrow versus what Germany pays, has doubled since Oct.

1 and last week reached its widest since the formation of the euro currency zone in 1999. And speculation that France could lose the triple-A rating on its sovereign debt intensified after Standard Poor's mistakenly said it was downgrading France's debt. A jump in Italian bond yields to more than 7 percent last week, on concern about Rome's ability to borrow, reminded investors just how much Italian debt French banks hold. But French banks also hold a lot of French government bonds, whose yields have risen in tandem with concerns that Paris's finances may be strained as it foots a larger bill to help prevent the crisis from engulfing Italy. French banks are also more dependent on short-term financ Estimates for total American bank exposure to France vary widely.

Direct holdings of French sovereign debt are small but total exposure runs into the hundreds of billions, according to the Bank for International Settlements. A recent Congressional Research Service report said US bank exposure to German and French banks total over $1.2 trillion. The roots of France's exposure to Italy lie in the decision by French banks to expand over the last decade by acquiring banks there and operating big branch networks. Among banks on the Continent, French institutions have been the most exposed to Italy, according to Keefe, Bruyette Woods, holding more than $100 billion worth of sovereign Italian bonds and on the line for an additional $300 billion in loans to private borrowers like Italian companies and consumers. These figures have been dropping in recent weeks, however.

As a result, imposing a writedown in the value of Italy's debt, a so-called haircut, would have a much more devastating effect on bank capital levels than the 50 percent reduction in the face value of Greek debt European leaders agreed to last month. What is more, the amount of money Italy owes just under 2 trillion euros dwarfs the 350 billion euro debt load of Greece. Anxieties about Italy eased Friday, though, with yields on its debt falling below 7 percent. On Saturday, Parliament approved austerity measures sought by the European Union, and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi quit. As for France itself, its economy is healthier Italy's.

In Italy, debt equals 120 percent of gross domestic product; France's ratio is a more manageable 85 percent. And the French economy has grown at about twice the rate of Italy's over the last decade. Authorities in France say French banks have adequate capital and expect efforts by European leaders, as well a new Italian government committed to fiscal reform, to help keep the crisis from becoming more severe. New blood thinner may cut cardiac risk Northeastern professor Barry Bluestone answered an audience question yesterday flanked by panelists Liz Cohen and Thomas Shapiro during a teach-in, which he organized with help from former governor and fellow professor Michael Dukakis (right). Teach-in focuses on economic divide nestone answered an audience question yesterday flanked by pa he organized with help from former governor and fellow profes bcuses on economi like speech and memory loss.

Those rates are three times higher than those seen in placebo takers. This side effect may explain why the drug failed to reduce the risk of dying from a stroke, Mega said. The bleeding risk, however, was reduced in those who took a 2.5 milligram dose twice a day, compared with patients who took a 5 milligram dose. "Based on our results, there's no clear reason you'd want to give the higher dose to any patient," Mega said. The lower dose also was associated with fewer deaths from any cause.

About 2.9 percent of those getting the 2.5 milligram dose died during the study, compared with 4.5 percent of those getting the placebo. The higher dose did not lead to fewer deaths. Whether the drug will prove safe for the highest-risk heart attack patients was a concern raised by some cardiologists. "Patients selected for this clinical trial were slightly different than the general population of heart attack patients," said Dr. E.

Magnus Ohman, a professor at Duke University Medical Center who wrote an editorial in the New England Journal that accompanied the study. For example, 9 percent of the patients in the study were 75 or older, and the vast majority had no kidney problems. Both advanced age and kidney disease raise the risk of bleeding and strokes. The study did not follow any patient for longer than 2V2 years, so it's difficult to know whether serious bleeding risks will increase for those who take the drug for longer periods. It is not clear how much the pill will cost.

Xarelto, used as a 10 milligram dose for other conditions, costs $6 to $9 a day. That compares to $4 a month for generic Coumadin. "Though I'm excited about rivaroxaban's potential new role in the treatment of secondary heart attack prevention, I wonder just how many will actually be able to afford it," Dr. Melissa Shirley, a Kentucky cardiol-ogist who moderates a cardiovascular online forum called theheart.org, said via e-mail. "I also wonder when we will come to the point that we stop adding medications and start replacing the older ones." Deborah Kotz can be reached at dkotzglobe.com.

Follow her on Twitter debkotz2. HEART Continued from Page B7 have a heart attack or unstable angina, rivaroxaban could soon be added to the standard preventive treatment given in the days, months, and years following. The drug, whose trade name is Xarelto, was approved this year to treat blood clots in the legs and an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation. "I think this could be a real game-changer," said one of the study's coauthors, Dr. C.

Michael Gibson, an interventional cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. His coauthor, Dr. Jessica Mega, also at the Brigham, agreed. "It's really exciting to think about a new treatment strategy," she said, "since 10 percent of heart attack patients wind up having another heart attack with the current therapies." Gibson, who is also affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Mega have served as paid consultants for the drug's manufacturers, Johnson Johnson and Bayer. In a heart attack and with unstable angina, blood flow to the heart drops sharply.

Rivaroxaban is designed to prevent a recurrence by reducing the production of an enzyme that causes clots. An older blood thinner, Coumadin, commonly used in the first few days following a heart attack, can't be given long term to prevent heart attacks, Mega said, because it is hard to find the correct dose without subjecting patients to high risks of bleeding. "It's a very messy drug, and hard to get the dose exactly right," Mega said. "Patients oscillate and have to come into the clinic every few weeks to make sure blood is in the appropriate range. Rivaroxaban has far more dose precision over time and among a large population of patients." Physicians not involved with the study were tempered in their enthusiasm for rivaroxaban.

"The results are encouraging, but the FDA will have to seriously consider the risks as well as the benefits before approving it for routine use in heart attack patients," said Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. About 2 percent of patients on rivaroxaban had internal bleeding that required hospitalization, and 0.6 percent had bleeding in the brain, which can lead to lasting mental deficits Professor Robert Hall from Northeastern attended yesterday's "Teach In: Reclaiming Our Economy" event, at which "Reclaim Our Economy" buttons were handed out. PHOTOS BY eastern and one of the early organizers of Occupy Boston, said she was honored to speak at yesterday's event. "It's a sign we are making progress," she said.

"People weren't talking about inequality before, and now they are." A number of academics provided statistics to back up various claims that recent economic conditions have not been good for those who are not part of the top economic tier of Americans who hold much of the nation's wealth. Joseph McLaughlin, a senior research associate at Northeastern's Center for Labor Market Studies, said corporate profits are up by about $592 billion, or 46 percent, since the economy started to recover from the 2008 Wall Street meltdown. But workers' wages have risen less than 1 percent during the KAYANA SZYMCZAK FORTHE BOSTON GLOBE past few years, he said. Thomas Shapiro, a Brandeis University sociologist and head of the school's Institute on Assets and Social Policy, said there is a direct correlation between income inequality and recent tax cuts for corporations and more affluent individuals. The average US household lost net wealth from 2005 through 2009, largely because of the collapse of the housing market and the subsequent plunge in home values, he said.

The median household income fell by 16 percent for whites, 53 percent for blacks, and 66 percent for His-panics, he said. State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat, said the state needs to raise the income tax rate to boost funding for education, which she said is critical for helping poor people to advance. "Our system is failing America," she said. Steven A. Tolman, the new president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said the country desperately needs to create jobs.

He criticized congressional Republicans for blocking President Oba-ma's economic agenda. "Our economy is not working for the 99 percent," said Tolman, borrowing a line from the Occupy movement. The Boston Globe was a media sponsor of the event. The Globe's publisher, Christopher M. Mayer, said the newspaper's hope is to create dialogue about issues of importance.

TEACH-IN Continued from Page B7 an easing of the financial burden on homeowners facing foreclosure. Among those speaking at the event, organized by a Northeastern University faculty member who coordinated protest teach-ins during the Vietnam War, were Governor Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, two members of the Boston City Council, a state senator, the head of the AFL-CIO of Massachusetts, and professors from Northeastern, Harvard, and Brandeis universities. "I am a capitalist, but I am not a market fundamentalist," said Patrick, a Democrat. People have to push back against the idea that government does not have a role in the economy and other areas, he said.

"It's not a radical or socialist idea" to support government action, said Patrick, who praised the Occupy movement for forcing people to listen to concerns about income inequality. "The country needs to be saved," he said. Menino, who has had a sometimes rocky relationship with Occupy Boston protesters, said the movement's message is "like an alarm ringing" about economic inequities. "America is more unequal than we were a few decades ago," Menino told the audience, which included students and adults streaming into the auditorium throughout the daylong series of panel discussions. The sessions had titles such as "Who's the system failing? Who's it working for?" and "Politics and economics: What went wrong?" Toward the end of the day, as if on cue, about 20 Northeastern students arrived at the small grass quad in front of Blackman Auditorium, holding an "Occupy Northeastern" sign and pitching tents.

"We are the 99 percent," the students chanted. Bryan MacCormack, a Northeastern senior and one of the students on the quad, said the protesters timed their move to coincide with the teach-in but did not tell anyone in advance because they did not want school officials to prevent them from taking over the quad. He said Northeastern students wanted to avoid what happened last week at Harvard University. There, campus police immediately isolated student protesters and tried to keep non- THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Division of Banks WELLESLEY BANK (the Wellesley, Massachusetts has filed an application with the Commissioner of Banks to convert from a mutual to a stock form of ownership pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 170, section 26C. It is anticipated that the proposed conversion will be accomplished through the sale of stock to WELLESLEY BANCORP, INC.

a corporation to be organized as the holding company for the BANK and the subsequent sale by BANKCORP of its stock pursuant to a Plan of Conversion. Any objections or comments relative to this proposal must be communicated in writing to the Commissioner of Banks, 1000 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02118-6400 no later than November 23, 2011. The Petitioner's application and all communication relative to this application will be available for public inspection at the main office of the BANK, 40 Central Street, Wellesley and at the Division of Banks. DAVID J. COTNEY Commissioner of Banks students away from the protesters.

Northeastern's campus police did not respond to the protesters. The teach-in was organized by Barry Bluestone, director of Northeastern's School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. Former governor Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee for president and a political science professor at Northeastern, assisted with its organization and moderated some of the sessions. Bluestone said he helped organize one of the first teach-ins during the Vietnam War while he was a student at the University of Michigan. He said he hopes other schools will hold similar teach-ins on the issues raised by the Occupy movement.

"We're hoping this really spreads," he said. "We're starting to galvanize folks." Zoe Wolf, a senior at North.