The ratings agency cautioned that there were still significant risks associated with implementing the agreements, but said it believed the measures “can provide a more stable funding framework for sovereigns and banks on the periphery while their governments continue to implement growth-enhancing structural reforms and reduce their budgetary imbalances.”

The decision to grant greater flexibility to the European Stability Mechanism, the euro zone’s new bailout fund, has raised expectations among analysts that the European Central Bank will also take new measures when its governing council meets Thursday, perhaps by cutting interest rates or providing additional liquidity to the market.

Stocks rose sharply after the deal was announced Friday and have held up fairly well since, though major European indexes ticked lower Wednesday. The Euro Stoxx 50, an index of blue-chip euro zone issues, and benchmarks in London, Paris and Frankfurt all settled less than 1 percent lower. Markets in the United States were closed Wednesday for the Independence Day holiday.

The crisis, which began in late 2009 with the revelation that Greece had been hiding the true extent of its government deficit, has already led three countries — Greece, Ireland and Portugal — to receive bailouts. Spain is seeking up to €100 billion, or $125.4 billion, for its financial sector and Cyprus may need €10 billion for its banks.

Many economists, particularly those with a Keynesian bent, argue that the tax increases and spending cuts that European governments have pursued since the onset of the crisis to reassure markets are precisely the wrong medicine at a time when the region’s economy is ailing.

Business surveys released Wednesday indicated that all of the biggest European economies are either already in recession or close to it. The surveys suggested the euro zone’s economy returned to contraction in the second quarter and the mild recession in Britain stretched into a third consecutive quarter.

Markit’s composite purchasing managers index for the euro zone was revised up in June to 46.4 from a preliminary reading of 46, but a reading under 50 indicates economic contraction. The reading has been under 50 for nine of the past 10 months. Other Markit surveys this week showed that British manufacturing and construction contracted in June.

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Market said the surveys were consistent with a 0.6 percent contraction for the euro zone economy in the second quarter, and 0.1 percent for Britain.

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The reports stoked expectations that the E.C.B. would cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low Thursday and that the Bank of England would resume a bond-buying program intended to spur the British economy.

Despite optimism following the Brussels summit meeting, many economists remain unconvinced, saying the problems confronting the euro zone are too great to overcome. Charles Dumas, the chairman of Lombard Street Research, a London economic consulting firm, said he believed there was still a 75 percent probability that the currency union would ultimately fail.

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“It’s extremely simple,” he said. “The Italians and the Spanish cannot grow until they’re competitive, and they can’t grow if they’re not competitive while engaging in austerity.”

Rescuing the euro would either require South European countries to accept a depression or Germany to accept 10 years of 4 percent inflation and large payments to those countries, Mr. Dumas said. “And I don’t think the Germans have yet taken on board the scale of what’s being asked of them.”

In her appearance with Mr. Monti, the German chancellor acknowledged that it was in her country’s interests to support the euro zone’s weaker countries, whose economies have been especially hard hit by the three-year-old economic crisis.

“If our neighbors in Europe don’t do well, in the long run we Germans won’t do well, either,” she said. “It’s in our interest that everyone has a positive economic development, otherwise Germany won’t be able to maintain its prosperity.”

Mr. Monti insisted that Italy’s finances were not comparable to those of Portugal, Greece and Ireland. He emphasized the structural changes his government has already undertaken to improve the country’s fiscal position and economy, and those it planned to make in the coming months.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund — which along with the European Union and the European Central Bank has been helping to administer and fund the bailouts — urged Germany to bolster domestic demand through the adoption of structural changes, something it said would help the country’s European partners.

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The I.M.F. called for Germany to make “reforms to encourage higher investment, remove labor market bottlenecks, and increase economic efficiency and productivity” that would “be crucial to boost potential growth and aid the rebalancing process.”

The fund also weighed in on Greece’s efforts to revise the terms of its bailout terms. Christine Lagarde, the I.M.F.’s managing director, took a tough line Tuesday during an appearance on the financial cable television network CNBC, saying that there was no room for discussion.

“I am not in a negotiation or renegotiation mood at all,” Ms. Lagarde said. “We are in a fact-finding mood.”

David Jolly reported from Paris.