\u201cWe have not relented on our principles,\u201d\u009d Mr. [Jean-Claude] Trichet told Der Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, according to a transcript on the bank\u2019s Web site. \u201cPrice stability is our primary mandate and compass.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
And in an interview broadcast on Sunday, the U.S. Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, signaled his confidence that Europe would resolve its debt crisis and that the American economy would withstand its impact. \u201cEurope has the capacity to manage through this,\u201d\u009d Mr. Geithner told Bloomberg Television. \u201cAnd I think they will.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
As investors absorb the details \u201d\u201d and the potential weaknesses \u201d\u201d of the $1 trillion European rescue plan, Mr. Geithner seemed to be trying to draw a sharp, if implicit, contrast to remarks last week from another senior economic adviser to President Barack Obama, Paul A. Volcker. Mr. Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman, startled some investors when he spoke of a possible \u201cdisintegration\u201d\u009d of the euro zone \u201d\u201d a striking shift from his expressions of confidence of only two months earlier.<\/p>\n