NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Investors may be saying good riddance to a choppy year, but they’d better buckle up. The first quarter of 2012 is going to be a roller coaster ride, with Europe front and center.

“The euro debt crisis continues to be on the feared side of the ledger, where markets suffer spasms of the unknowable,” said John Velis, head of European capital markets research at Russell Investments.  Read more