Current Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta survived a confidence vote by a wide margin on Wednesday.

The Italian government is in turmoil again, and that could damage the fragile European recovery.

No government emerges a month after Italy's last elections, markets seems to approve.

The last thing the global economy needed was more political upheaval in Europe. But that's what we're getting. Italian prime minister Mario Monti plans to resign, and there will be elections early in 2013.

Italy, the third biggest economy in the euro zone, has been plunged into political turmoil as Prime Minister Mario Monti has announced plans to step down.