The European markets will keep a strangle hold on the financial markets in the week ahead, as investors weigh the Greek’s commitment to the euro zone and watch for other headlines from the debt-ridden zone. The G-8 leaders meeting in Camp David over the weekend strongly supported keeping Greece in the Euro-zone and vowed to do whatever is necessary to battle financial turmoil while revitalizing their economies. The leaders also stressed the need for strategists to encourage growth, in an effort to balance the European austerity measures pushed by Germany, and at the heart of the political crisis in Greece.

With just a handful of earnings and economic reports on the cards this week, there will be plenty of opportunity for markets to dwell on Europe and its problems. In the past week, investors began to reassess the possibility that Greece could leave the euro zone in a messy fashion, spurring bank runs in other peripheral countries. In the past week, German Chancellor and the newly elected French President both said Greece should stay in the euro zone. The Greek’s failure to form a ruling coalition after its May 6^th election has now led it to a second election in June.

One of the big events for the stock market this year was Facebook’s initial public offering Friday. Some traders said stocks had an early bid Friday because of Facebook, but that faded. Facebook shares were barely changed on the day, ending 23 cents above the $38 offer price. However, trading in the stock was marred by communications problems at the Nasdaq and the stock had a rough start, reaching a high of $45 very briefly. Trades were still being resolved late in the day and there is likely to be more discussion about that in the coming week. Facebook, at $18 billion, is the largest tech IPO and it attracted a great deal of retail investor interest. In fact, retail investor participation in the market Friday was 50 to 70 percent higher than the average for May, according to Sandler O’Neill’s Richard Repetto.

However, the Greek crisis is the paramount factor affecting the markets and will surely grab the headlines as and when the facts are relayed to the media in the coming days.