WEEKLY UPDATE – Swedish stocks plunged as investor fears over rising debt levels in some eurozone states became more acute.

The so-called Pigs – Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain – pose growing problem to eurozone stability as rising debt levels becomes more acute. Although each country has its unique difficulties they all had a long boom based on cheap credit and now facing huge budget deficits and galloping unemployment.

The troubled countries now try to cut budget deficit from levels of 9 – 13 percent to the EMU target of 3 percent. But analysts are skeptic. Martin Guri, equity strategist at Nordea, said that it is likely to happen “when pigs fly”.

The US continued to shed workers in January, figured showed Friday afternoon, although the unemployment rate edged lower, sending mixed messages to markets.

The OMX Stockholm 30 index was down 0.87 percent at Friday 4.30pm after plunging 2.20 percent Thursday. Compared to a week ago shares are up 0.40 percent.

"It's been a dismal 24 hours ... as stock markets, commodities and currencies have fallen around the world, while bond default risk has soared (and) investors have fled risky assets into the relative safety of the dollar," CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson told AFP.

Although most Swedish and US companies have reported better than expected earnings during the report season stocks have not increased in the same phase.

“Stock market actors are cautious because of other news, especially new US policy agenda. Investors wait and see what happens. So markets are stalling”, Martin Guri told The Swedish Wire.   

Friday Gothenburg-based Volvo Group, the world's second-biggest truck maker, reported an worse-than-expected operating loss of 2.3 billion kronor ($316 million) – but now sees signs of improvement and that its main markets will retur to growth this year. The share rose more than 3 percent in morning trade.

Shares in truck maker Scania rose Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter net profit and said it now sees signs of stability. The Scania share was up almost 10 percent.

The Swedish publisher of free newspapers, Metro International, said Thursday it had its best ever quarter in the final three months. Metro shares jumped 23.1 percent in early trading.

Shares in Elextrolux, the world's second largest appliance maker, tumbled Wednesday on poor outlook. The company reported strong 2009 profits but said it expected only a small rise in home appliance demand this year as the sector struggles to recover from the global economic crisis.

Since the turn of the year the OMX Stockholm 30 is down 0.70 percent.

This article has been published at The Swedish Wire and Nasdaq OMX Nordic.