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Monday, June 15, 2015

STOCKS TUMBLE: Here's what you need to know (SPY, DJI, IXIC, TGT, CVS, BABA, CI, ANTM, GS, AIG, ITB)

Stocks fell for a second straight session. Greece's talks with its creditors stalled again over the weekend, and economic data started the week on a lukewarm note. First, the scoreboard: Dow: 17,773.92, -124.92, (-0.70%) S&P 500: 2,081.89, -12.22, (-0.58%) Nasdaq: 5,023.90, -27.20, (-0.54%) And now, the top stories on Monday: Economic data out today was mixed. Industrial production fell 0.2%, missing forecasts for a 0.2% gain. The April print was revised lower to -0.5% from -0.3%. Capacity utilization fell to 78.1% from 78.2%, versus the forecast for 78.3%. The index on mining fell 0.3%, a slower pace from the previous month due to a moderation in the pace of decline in the index for oil and gas drilling. PNC senior economist Gus Faucher summed up the data in an email: "Auto sales were very strong for the month. But lackluster results in other areas held back production. The stronger dollar is a drag, as it makes exports from the US more expensive and imports to the US less expensive. And energy production continues to decline."  The biggest miss was from the Empire State Manufacturing Survey, which came in at -2, versus expectations for a reading of 6. The new orders index fell -2.1, and an index measuring expectations for future business conditions fell for a second straight month. In a client note, Barclays economists wrote that the data "implies further headwinds for regional manufacturing, and we look ahead to Thursday’s release of the Philly Fed index for more clarity on this trend." Homebuilder sentiment beat estimates and rose to a nine-month high. The housing market index from the National Association of Homebuilders came in at 59 (versus 56 expected.) Present single-family sales, and sales expected in the next six months also jumped to the highest levels in at least a year. CVS is buying Target's pharmacy business for $1.9 billion. The drugstore operator will acquire over 1,660 Target pharmacies in 47 states to boost its sales.  Alibaba is launching a streaming video subscription service called TMall Box Office in China. "Our goal is to become like HBO in the United States, to become like Netflix in the United States," said Patrick Liu, head of Alibaba's digital entertainment business. Netflix shares fell as much as 2%. Cigna shares surged more than 14% after the Wall Street Journal reported that Anthem has approached the health insurance company for a merger. The companies have reportedly been in talks for several months. Anthem is offering $175 a share in its second offer. If it comes through, the deal would be the latest of several deals in the healthcare insurance industry that we've seen this year as companies seek to lower costs. Goldman Sachs wants to lend you money. The investment banking firm is looking to offer loans online to consumers and small businesses to get a piece of the $850 million-market, according to the New York Times. Goldman has hired Harit Talwar, the former CMO at Discover Financial Services, as a partner. Goldman will be taking on a bigger pool of competitors like Lending Club and On Deck.  A federal judge ruled that the terms of the government bailout to insurance giant AIG were illegally harsh. But no damages were awarded to Starr International, the company chaired by Hank Greenberg that was one of AIG's largest shareholders in 2008; Greenberg is also a former AIG CEO. Greenberg had sued the Federal Reserve, arguing that it didn't have the right to take 79.9% 0f AIG's equity as a condition for a bailout. DON'T MISS: What one of Wall Street's top bulls thinks about the market »Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 words to eliminate from your vocabulary to sound smarter


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German Press: Eurozone to Impose Capital Controls on Greece if No Deal Is Reached

A new summit of EU leaders will be held next Friday if Greece and its international creditors do not reach an agreement during the Thursday Eurogroup. According to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, there will be no solution on Greece, once again, in the new meeting of Eurozone Finance Ministers and the country will be asked to proceed with a special law that will provide control over capital movement. It also pointed out that if the Greek government does not vote such a law, it will be isolated from the financial system. However, according to several other sources, European countries will seek a political solution for Greece during the new summit and Athens will eventually move to an extension of its current bailout program until November, receiving further financial aid of €25 to 35 billion.


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World Press View: Greece Faces Real Apocalypse Now

Break out The Doors This is The End theme music and queue the credits because unless a deal is reached, Greece is going to go under. The post World Press View: Greece Faces Real Apocalypse Now appeared first on The National Herald.


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After Markets Shock, Greece Ready To Talk

Greece insisted June 15 it is ready to return to bailout talks "at any moment" after a breakdown in negotiations with creditors pushed the country closer toward bankruptcy and jolted international markets. The post After Markets Shock, Greece Ready To Talk appeared first on The National Herald.


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Bayer Hellas Charged With Bribery

A corruption prosecutor has brought bribery charges against four officials from the Greek branch of the German pharmaceutical company Bayer. The post Bayer Hellas Charged With Bribery appeared first on The National Herald.


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Bayer Hellas reps accused of bribing doctors

A corruption prosecutor on Monday brought criminal charges of active bribery against four representatives of the Greek branch


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Kotzias briefs UN envoy on positions for Cyprus talks

United Nations Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide on Monday returned to Cyprus, where President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci are due to meet Wednesday, after being briefed about Greece’s positions on the reunification talks.


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Germany’s Merkel Faces Tough Test as Greek Bailout Showdown Nears

BERLIN—As Greece hurtles toward a collision with its creditors in late June, German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces one of the hardest choices of her career: whether to let Greece default, or to bend Europe’s bailout rules and risk a revolt at home.


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Stocks fall globally as Greek talks collapse

Stock markets around the world fell on Monday, suffering their first bout of significant contagion from the Greek crisis after 11th hour talks between the near bankrupt country and its creditors collapsed.The losses were broad across risk assets. ...


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US Government Bond Prices Rise on Greek Concerns, Weak NY Data

“The market has taken a very dim view on the prospects for a Greek deal following the collapse of talks with troika official over the weekend,” said ...


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Europe raises heat on Greece to make further concessions

European policy makers raised pressure on Greece to return to the negotiating table and make further concessions to unlock aid, as each side laid out its demands to rally support for its respective position.Stocks and the euro fell on Monday as the ...


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France's Hollande sees 'little time' to avoid Greek euro exit

French President Francois Hollande said on Monday there was "little time" to avoid a euro exit for Greece and the country must come up with its own proposals to meet obligations to creditors. Speaking to reporters in Algiers as Greece continued to resist demands for more cuts to government spending including pensions, Hollande said the ball was firmly in Greece's court. There is little time," Hollande said.


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Most Greeks see Athens making bulk of bailout concessions

Two thirds of Greeks believe their leftist government will have to climb down in its standoff with international creditors and deliver the bulk of concessions needed to seal a deal, an opinion poll showed on Monday. In the poll by GPO for Mega TV, 67.8 percent of respondents expected most of the compromises to be made by Athens. Only 19.4 percent believed the lenders, including the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, will yield more to reach an agreement to unlock remaining aid.


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National Bank of Greece (NBG) Stock Plummeting as Greek Debt Negotiations Fall Apart

Concerns over the possibility Greece could default on its debt have arisen ... European officials are blaming the collapse on Greece for not offering a ...


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Greek island migrants hold protest

Hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi refugees have protested on the eastern Greek island of Lesbos, demanding better living conditions and to be housed separately from Afghan arrivals after a fight broke out in one of the island's camps. Lesbos has been bearing ...


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Greece and the eurozone’s existential crisis

If Greece gives in to the demands of the European banks and the IMF, the consequences for its pensioners and other poor people will be worse than anything Draco ever dreamt up. The pensions cut and the VAT increase are favoured by the banks because there will be an immediate impact on those perceived to have benefited immoderately from the government’s profligacy – a benefit not clear to people whose country has already been devastated by cuts.If the banks give way, however, who will notice? No one in the short term. In the long term, maybe the banks or hedge fund managers may have to adjust their books to reflect a bad investment. Related: Fears of Greece eurozone exit mount as EU deadline looms Related: Europe must save Greece to save itself | Timothy Garton Ash Continue reading...


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US stocks fall amid lack of progress in Greece bailout talks

U.S. stocks were heading for a lower close in late-afternoon trading Monday. Uncertainty over Greece's latest bid to negotiate a deal with its creditors weighed on the market. Discouraging data on U.S. manufacturing didn't help. Industrials stocks were among the biggest decliners.


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German politicians from all parties back Merkel's hardline over 'irresponsible' Athens

German politicians from across the political spectrum backed Chancellor Angela Merkel's firm line in aid talks with Athens yesterday despite the growing risk of a Greek default that could push it out of the euro zone.


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easyJet's geographical grasp worries travellers

Portugal’s prime minister has said many times that Portugal is not Greece as the problems the Greeks are undergoing are not on the same scale as the ‘local difficulty’ in Portugal Enter easyJet to give us its take on the matter while promoting a new route to the Greek paradise of Kefalonia which seems to have moved to the north west of Portugal.


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1/3 Of Greeks Working Abroad May not Return to Their Homeland

ICAP group carried out a research among 1,325 Greeks working in 56 countries across the globe to explore the “Brain Drain” phenomenon, on the occasion of the 2015 Human Capital Summit. According to the study, the majority of talented young professionals is now working in England mainly, in the Information Technology, Finance and Technical sectors. Additionally, 73% of them carry a masters and/or doctorate degree. 47% of the research sample had already worked in Greece and decided to leave due to the current lack of meritocracy and plague of corruption (37%), unemployment (35%), economic crisis (33%), as well as to seek better development prospects (33%). The main factors that could lead to these high qualified people’s return to Greece in the future seem to be the lifestyle (45%), several financial incentives (76%) that constitute basic prerequisites for them in order to continue having the standard of living they are enjoying abroad, as well as other family reasons (30%). 63% of the sample left in the years after the crisis and 1/3 of them revealed that they may not return to Greece. “The fact that many of these talented Greek people do not want (20%) or do not foresee (30%) that they will ever return to Greece is extremely sad,” said ICAP group CEO Nikitas Konstantellos.


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Olympiakos’ Basketball Team Wins the Greek Basketball League

Olympiakos celebrated its 11th championship win on Sunday, June 14, and its third win over its main rival Panathinaikos with a score of 93-74 in the third game of the playoff finals. During the match that took place at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Athens, Olympiakos’ guard Vassilis Spanoulis scored a total of 23 points and made five assists. Meanwhile, Greek Georgios Printezis, Belgian shooting guard Matt Lojeski and American Othello Hunter also reached double digits in points. Panathinaikos’ team did not perform as well, however ,Vlantimir Giankovits managed to score 17 points, becoming the top scorer of his team. Greek Loukas Mavrokefalidis scored 14 points and Antonis Fotsis scored 11, while the American shooting guard A. J. Slaughter and Uruguayan Esteban Batista scored 10 points each. Olympiacos Piraeus BC was founded in 1931 and it is one of the most successful clubs in European basketball, having won three Euroleague Championships, one Triple Crown, one Intercontinental Cup, eleven Greek Championships and nine Greek Cups. They play their home matches at Peace and Friendship Stadium. Panathinaikos BC is the professional basketball team of the major Athens based multi-sport club Panathinaikos and it is the most successful team in Greece with 34 Greek Basketball League titles in total.


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European Commission Rebuts Greece’s Claims of Austerity Demands by Creditors

The European Commission officially rebutted Greece’s claims and press leaks that creditors ask for irrational austerity measures in order to come to an agreement. European Commission chief spokesperson Margaritis Schinas and Coordinating Spokesperson for Economic and Financial Affairs Annika Breidhardt spoke of misinformation and inaccuracies on the part of the Greek government and categorically rejected allegations that the Commission demanded pension cuts and that the Greek side brought comprehensive proposals to the table. For the first time, the European Commission presented the five pillars of the reforms Greece’s creditors have put on the negotiation table. 1) Fiscal adjustment consolidation with a primary surplus of 1% in 2015, 2% in 2016 and 3.5% from 2017 onwards. 2) Improvement of tax administration – Independent tax authorities. 3) Adjustment of non-performing loans. 4) Reduction in consumer prices by opening closed markets for services, products and professions. 5) Reforming the public sector with emphasis on fighting corruption. Breidhardt noted that the compromise plan proposed by the Commission leaves room for the protection of the vulnerable strata of society and halts the humanitarian crisis. In relation to pensions, the two European Commission representatives marked misconceptions and misinformation regarding pension cuts and explained that the Commission sought the gradual elimination of early retirement, the abolition of incentives for early exit from the labor market and the consolidation of the social security funds. In the meantime, the Greek proposal was made public suggesting measures such as a special tax of 12% on corporate profits above 1 million euros, increased corporate income tax from 26% currently to 29%, and increased solidarity contribution rate on incomes above 30,000 euros. You can see the full document of the Greek proposal as published by Greek newspaper “Kathimerini” here.


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S&P Says Missed Payment to ECB Will not Lead to Ratings Downgrade‏

Standard & Poor’s Ratings said on Monday that it would not move the ratings on Greece to ‘SD’ (selective default) should the government miss making payments on bonds maturing in July and August totaling 6.7 billion euros held by the European Central Bank (ECB). “That’s because our sovereign ratings pertain to a central government’s ability and willingness to service financial obligations to commercial (nonofficial) creditors and we consider the ECB to be an official creditor,” the ratings agency said. S&P said in an announcement that the bonds in question are the result of a bond swap in early 2012 whereby the ECB exchanged an approximate €50 billion par amount of Greek government bonds it had purchased through the now-defunct Securities Market Program, for an equivalent par amount of new bonds. Some of these new bonds are falling due in July and August. “To our knowledge, the ECB has retained the totality of the new Greek sovereign bonds it received in the 2012 swap. Therefore nonpayment of those bonds would not directly affect any commercial creditors. In such an event, Standard & Poor’s would therefore not move its sovereign rating on Greece to ‘SD’ (selective default). All other things being equal, however, such nonpayment would likely constitute a negative factor in our analysis and could lead to a lower, albeit nondefault, long-term sovereign rating than the current ‘CCC’ rating,” S&P said. (source: ana-mpa)


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European Commission Considers Emergency Plan For Greece

On his way into a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) executive meeting in Berlin, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Guenther Oettinger told reporters on Monday that it is essential for Greece to settle for pension reforms and general budget consolidation in order to give an end to the current negotiation deadlock with creditors. Taking into account that Athens is facing the threat of a potential bankruptcy that could lead the country out of the Eurozone after its persistence to demand less harsh terms in order to reach a deal, Oettinger suggested that the European Commission should start considering a “state of emergency” plan on Greece from July 1. “I think that the Commission needs to work out a plan that could avert a worsening of the situation in the event that Greece leaves the Eurozone, in the event of a bankruptcy,” he said and added that there is great need to ensure “energy supplies, pay for police officials, medical supplies and pharmaceutical products.”


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Passenger Animals Will Require Registration Number on Greek Island of Leros

Horses, donkeys and mules will receive registration numbers and legal liability for accidents on the Greek island of Leros, following a decision by the island’s City Council. The new regulation will include all “passenger animals” and it provides that the owners will have to issue licenses proving their ability to ride and treat the animal, as well as to follow traffic regulations. The transport of passengers and goods via animals is well established in Leros given the territory’s morphology. Even nowadays, the practice shows remarkable growth, especially due to visitors‘ desire to experience the traditional way of travelling around the island. According to the new regulation’s key points, horses, donkeys and mules are considered to be passenger animals and they can be rented for the transportation of passengers. The animals require a riding license, granted by the municipality of Leros. The license will be issued in the owner’s name and will indicate the animal’s registration number, the year and month of its birth, the owner’s details, including taxpayer identification number. Furthermore, in order to receive the license, the owner must be over 18 years old and be legally qualified to practice the profession, while the animal needs to be over 3 years old. A Municipality of Leros public servant will be in charge of providing the necessary licenses and authorizations. Furthermore, the animal’s hoofs need to be marked with the registration number, while the animal’s owner is required to ensure the immediate cleaning of the island’s streets and public spaces, to avoid unwanted odors and maintain hygiene. Finally, the passenger animals will follow predetermined routes both during tourist tours and during their transport to and from the stables. These routes are determined by a special decision of the Leros City Council.


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Greek Govt: The Efforts Will Continue; There Is no Impasse

The Greek government does not want to speak of an impasse in negotiations; creditors’ demands are harsh, the mandate given to the government by the people is clear and efforts will continue, government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis said on Monday. He said that the government’s next steps will be decided at the political negotiation group meeting that is currently underway. A deal will be reached, he estimated, because “the opposite would not be in either side’s interests.” Moreover, Sakellaridis predicted that the European Central Bank’s board will not make a decision that will hurt Greek banks in the midst of the negotiation and thanked the Greek people for staying calm despite the “cries for the opposite.” He said that the possibility of a referendum or snap elections is not on the table and noted that the government has fresh popular mandate for a four-year term in office. Finally, the spokesman announced that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will leave for St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 8, in accordance with his schedule. (source: ana-mpa)


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Greece Awaits Institutions’ Invitation to Restart Negotiations, Govt Sources Say

Greece awaits the institutions’ invitation to continue negotiations, government sources said on Monday, pointing to a statement made by government Vice President Yiannis Dragasakis in Brussels who clarified that “the Greek side is ready to complete negotiations.” “We await the institutions’ invitation and we are ready at any moment to respond to the continuation of the negotiations,” the sources said. The same sources noted that Greece went to Brussels with comprehensive counter-proposals, following discussions between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other European leaders, to have another round of talks. These talks would be between the representatives of the Greek premier and those of the institutions with the aim of bridging the remaining differences and achieving a deal; but these discussions never took place, the sources said. They said the institutions’ technical team representatives said they were unauthorized and while the Greek team submitted proposals, the representatives submitted a document with measures that the Greek Parliament has rejected. Earlier, Tsipras chaired a meeting of the Greek political negotiation group at the government headquarters and was announced that SYRIZA’s parliamentary group will meet on Tuesday at 01:00 pm local time. (source: ana-mpa)


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Investors weigh up options as idea of Grexit becomes serious

Previously Athens and its creditors always reached a deal but this week’s increasingly belligerent standoff means actually coming up with tangible plansFor almost the first time, investors have been obliged to assess seriously the risk of a Greek default and exit from the euro. Past Greek crises always seemed likely to end in a deal, and did. This time, even at the 11th hour, red lines are turning scarlet.Given that backdrop, the reaction of financial markets was remarkably sanguine. Greek stocks, especially banks, were clobbered obviously. But the wider reaction was mild. Yields on the debt of eurozone stragglers rose but are well below levels seen in 2011-12. Stock markets outside Greece were down but not heavily. Continue reading...


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Greece: A Credible Deal Will Require Difficult Decisions By All Sides

The status of negotiations between Greece and its official creditors -- the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF -- dominated headlines last week.  At the core of the negotiations is a simple question: How much of an adjustment has to be made by Greece, how much has to be made by its official creditors? In the program agreed in 2012 by Greece with its European partners, the answer was: Greece was to generate enough of a primary surplus to limit its indebtedness. It also agreed to a number of reforms which should lead to higher growth. In consideration, and subject to Greek implementation of the program, European creditors were to provide the needed financing, and provide debt relief if debt exceeded 120 percent by the end of the decade. The primary surplus in the program was to be 3 percent in 2015, and 4.5 percent next year.   Economic and political developments have made this an unattainable goal, and the target clearly must be decreased. It also included a number of reforms aimed at increasing medium term growth, and making the fiscal adjustment easier. These also need to be reconsidered. In this context, by how much should the primary surplus target be reduced?  A lower target leads to a less painful fiscal and economic adjustment for Greece. But it also leads to a need for more external official financing, and a commitment to more debt relief on the part of the European creditor countries.  Just as there is a limit to what Greece can do, there is a limit to how much financing and debt relief official creditors are willing and realistically able to provide given that they have their own taxpayers to consider. How should the initial set of reforms be reassessed?  Greek citizens, through a democratic process, have indicated that there were some reforms they do not want. We believe that these reforms are needed, and that, absent these reforms, Greece will not be able to sustain steady growth, and the burden of debt will become even higher. Here again, there is a trade off: To the extent that the pace of reform is slower, creditors will have to provide more debt relief.  Here again, there is a clear limit to what they are willing to do. The offer made to the Greek government last week reflected these considerations and these tradeoffs.  It proposed to lower the medium term primary budget surplus target from 4.5 percent of GDP to 3.5 percent, and give Greece two more years to achieve that target---so the target for this year was reduced to 1 percent -- and it asked for a more limited set of reforms. For a deal along these lines to be effective and credible however, two conditions must be satisfied. On the one hand, the Greek government has to offer truly credible measures to reach the lower target budget surplus, and it has to show its commitment to the more limited set of reforms.  We believe that even the lower new target cannot be credibly achieved without a comprehensive reform of the value-added tax (VAT) -- involving a widening of its base -- and a further adjustment of pensions.  Why insist on pensions? Pensions and wages account for about 75 percent of primary spending; the other 25 percent have already been cut to the bone.  Pension expenditures account for over 16 percent of GDP, and transfers from the budget to the pension system are close to 10 percent of GDP.  We believe a reduction of pension expenditures of 1 percent of GDP (out of 16 percent) is needed, and that it can be done while protecting the poorest pensioners.  We are open to alternative ways for designing both the VAT and the pension reforms, but these alternatives have to add up and deliver the required fiscal adjustment. On the other hand, the European creditors would have to agree to significant additional financing, and to debt relief sufficient to maintain debt sustainability. We believe that, under the existing proposal, debt relief can be achieved through a long rescheduling of debt payments at low interest rates. Any further decrease in the primary surplus target, now or later, would probably require, however, haircuts. These are tough choices, and tough commitments to be made on both sides. We hope that agreement can be achieved along these lines. From IMFdirect Blog. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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Greek talks must yield imminent agreement, says European Central Bank

ECB chief Mario Draghi sounds warning as Athens and its creditors remain deadlocked, with markets getting jittery over fears of default Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, has warned that time is rapidly running out to resolve the Greek debt crisis, as financial markets took fright at the prospect of a looming default.Shares fell across Europe after the latest breakdown in talks between Athens and its creditors diminished hopes of a deal being agreed at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday. Continue reading...


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Stances harden over Greek deal after talks collapse

Creditors said Athens failed to offer anything new to secure funding to repay €1.6bn to the IMF by the end of June ECB chief Mario Draghi says 'ball lies squarely in the camp of the Greek government to take the necessary steps' Greece and its creditors ...


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Syrians, Iraqis protest after fight in camp on Greek island

MYTILENE, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, including women and young children, have staged a protest on the eastern Greek island of Lesvos, demanding better living conditions, the faster processing of their registration and to be housed separately from Afghan arrivals after a fight broke out in one of the island's camps.


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Q&A: a third way for Greece in the form of a parallel currency

But they would become more realistic if Greece and its creditors do not reach an agreement over extending the current rescue programme by the ...


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Greek debt default looks more likely by the day

Greece and its eurozone partners have 72 hours to resolve their differences, but rather than edging closer together the two sides have never seemed further apartIt’s the morning of Friday 19 June. In Luxembourg, the finance ministers from the eurozone’s 19 countries are heading for home. Talks aimed at finding a solution to the Greek crisis have ended in failure. For once, there has been no 11th hour fudge. After years of kicking the can down the road, the end has been reached.In Athens, tourists out for an early look at the Parthenon find they can no longer get euros out of the cash machines. Contingency plans have been triggered to prevent a run on the banks. Strict capital controls are in force. Continue reading...


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This is what creditors demand of Greece on pensions

Pension reforms on two phases is what Greece's creditors ask Athens to implement. Among the proposals are strong disincentives to early retirement.


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Tsakalotos: 'No rift in Brussels, creditors team not authorised to negotiate '

The creditors' insistence on pensions cuts and their refusal to allow Greece a say in the composition of its fiscal package "does not do them credit," Alternate Minister for International Economic Relations Euclid Tsakalotos said in an interview with the ...


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Peripheral debt hit by Greek tensions

Greek tensions triggered a sharp sell-off across debt markets of southern eurozone “periphery” countries on Monday, exacerbating the European-led ...


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Germany hardens line on Greece after talks collapse

By Andreas Rinke and Holger Hansen BERLIN (Reuters) - German politicians from across the political spectrum backed Chancellor Angela Merkel's firm line in aid talks with Athens on Monday despite the growing risk of a Greek default that could push it out of the euro zone. A day after negotiations between Greece and its euro zone creditors broke down, members of Merkel's conservative party accused Athens of losing touch with reality. "In our view, the Greek government is behaving increasingly irresponsibly, including towards its own country," said Yasmin Fahimi, general secretary of the SPD and a politician who has not shied away from criticising the government in the past.


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Greece, Creditors Dig In After Debt Talks Collapse

By Renee Maltezou and Andreas Rinke ATHENS/BERLIN, June 15 (Reuters) - Greece and its creditors stuck to their positions on Monday after the collapse of talks aimed at preventing a default and possible euro exit, while Germany's EU commissioner said it was time to prepare for a "state of emergency." Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ignored pleas from European leaders to act fast. Instead he blamed creditors for the collapse of the cash-for-reform talks on Sunday, the biggest setback in long-running negotiations to secure more aid for Greece. Germany and other major creditor countries demanded that the Athens government come to its senses and offer new proposals. "It won't work that Greece sets the terms and says 'everyone has to dance to our tune'. Greece needs to get back to reality," Volker Kauder, parliamentary floor leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, told ARD television. The European Commission said it would only resume mediation efforts if Greece put forward new proposals, while the Greek government spokesman said Athens would stick to its rejection of wage and pension cuts and higher taxes on basic goods. "We have largely exhausted our limits," Greek spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said. Athens now has just two weeks to find a way out of the impasse before it faces a 1.6 billion euro repayment due to the International Monetary Fund, potentially leaving it out of cash, unable to borrow and teetering on the edge of the currency area. Despite the deepening crisis, Sakellaridis said Tsipras was going ahead with a planned visit to Russia from Thursday, the day euro zone finance ministers hold a crucial meeting in Luxembourg to review the standoff with Greece. He is due to stay till Saturday, attend an economic forum in Saint Petersburg and meet President Vladimir Putin. EU officials said that without improved Greek proposals by Thursday, the Eurogroup would be very tough and was likely to present Greece with an ultimatum. "No more new proposals; take it or leave it time is upon us, I think. Or very close." one euro zone official said. While there was little sign of public panic in Athens as Greeks held out hope for a last-minute solution - a familiar theme over the past six years as Athens has lurched from one crisis to the next - the latest impasse triggered a selloff in European and Asian shares and weighed on the euro. "There is worry among savers and we have received phone calls but so far today we have not seen significant outflows at ATMs or branch counters," one Greek banker said. Global financial markets suffered their first bout of significant contagion from the Greek crisis this year when bond markets across the euro zone signaled alarm. The premium investors demand to hold Spanish, Italian and Portuguese government bonds over low-risk German Bunds hit 2015 highs. Greek stocks fell 6 percent, while banking stocks tumbled as much as 12 percent. Greek two-year government bond yields surged more than 3 percentage points to 29.02 percent. A Reuters poll of euro money market traders put the chances of Greece leaving the euro zone this year at nearly one-in-three, higher than predicted just a month ago. Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras leads a meeting with the Egyptian Defense Minister General Sedki Sobhi Stark at Maximos Mansion in Athens, Friday, June 12, 2015.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) EMERGENCY PLAN? "We should work out an emergency plan because Greece would fall into a state of emergency," Germany's EU commissioner Guenther Oettinger said. "Energy supplies, pay for police officials, medical supplies, and pharmaceutical products and much more" needed to be ensured. The chief European Commission spokesman distanced himself from Oettinger's remarks when asked whether the EU executive was pursuing such a plan, saying Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had been very busy trying to mediate an agreement. In Athens, Tsipras - the 40-year-old leftist leader elected on a pledge to end austerity - betrayed few signs of alarm. Ignoring warnings from European policymakers that it was up to Athens to act now, Tsipras coolly said he was happy to wait it out till the lenders changed their minds. "We will await patiently until the institutions accede to realism," Tsipras said in a statement to Greek newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton. "We do not have the right to bury European democracy at the place where it was born." He blamed "political expediency" on the part of lenders and their insistence on new cuts in pensions "after five years of looting under the bailouts" for the latest impasse. Exasperated by what it sees as Greek distortion of the creditors' proposals, the European Commission made public for the first time comprehensive details of the latest plan, denying that the lenders were demanding specific pension or wage cuts. Spokeswoman Annika Breidthardt said Greece and the three institutions - the IMF, Commission and European Central Bank - had agreed on budget surplus targets before debt service costs for the coming years, but there was no agreement on how Greece would achieve the goals. The lenders argued that Greece needed to deliver annual savings of 1 percentage point of gross domestic product on pension spending, equivalent to 2 billion euros a year, while Athens only offered 71 million, or 0.04 percent, she said. "The proposals meet the needs of the Greek people, the Greek government, but also of the other 18 (euro zone) member states," Breidthardt said. "The targets have already been lowered .. It's not a one-way street." Tsipras was to meet his negotiating team later on Monday as Athens continued to blame the creditors for insisting on politically unpalatable pension and wage cuts. It says years of cuts have only made its situation worse by shrinking the economy, making it harder to pay off debt. Tsipras is insisting that debt relief must be part of any deal. The creditors argue Greece must reform its pensions system to put state finances on a sustainable footing. They say Greek workers retire younger on average than in other European countries and collect pensions close to German levels that require unaffordable government subsidies. "Why insist on pensions? Pensions and wages account for about 75 percent of primary spending; the other 25 percent have already been cut to the bone," IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard wrote in a blog post. "Just as there is a limit to what Greece can do, there is a limit to how much financing and debt relief official creditors are willing and realistically able to provide given that they have their own taxpayers to consider." The prospect of elections or a referendum to allow Tsipras a face-saving way out of the crisis made a comeback in the Greek debate as the leftist leader faced calls from the opposition to secure a deal to avert an economic collapse. Although some economists still believe that, as in past crises, a last-minute fix will be found to avoid default, European politicians sound more determined than before to resist compromising with demands they consider unreasonable. Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt said in Berlin that the euro zone's credibility would be damaged and radical forces in other countries would be emboldened if agreements with Greece were changed. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis retorted in an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper that a deal could be reached quickly if Merkel took part in the talks. "I rule out a 'Grexit' as a sensible solution," Varoufakis said. "But no one can rule out everything. I can't even rule out a comet hitting Earth." A man walks past graffiti featuring the word 'Time' but using the Euro sign in place of the letter 'e'on a wall in Athens on June 15, 2015. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images) (Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Matthias Williams in Athens, Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; Writing by Deepa Babington and Paul Taylor; Editing by Janet McBride) -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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ECB's Nowotny counts costs of potential Grexit

European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny acknowledged on Monday calculating the costs of a Greek exit from the eurozone, a rare admission from a central banker as Athens struggles to reach a deal with its creditors.


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FTSE 100 falls to new three month low on Greek fears

Prospect of default or Grexit grows after weekend talks collapseAs Greece edged closer to default after weekend talks with its creditors collapsed almost as soon as they began, leading shares hit a new three month low.The FTSE 100 fell 74 points or 1.1% to 6710.52 - its lowest level since 10 March - as investors fretted that both sides were becoming more intransigent in their positions, even as time for Greece to reach a deal comes closer to running out. London fared slightly better than some of its European peers, with German and French markets both down around 1.6%. In Greece, the Athens market dropped 4.68%, ahead of what is seen as a key Eurogroup meeting on Thursday. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down around 100 points or 0.6% by the time London closed. Continue reading...


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Greece battles to avert default debacle in EU-IMF talks

Greece tried Monday to drag loan talks with its EU-IMF creditors back from the brink after negotiations collapsed over the weekend and left the country just two weeks away from a catastrophic default on its debt.


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Draghi Puts Pressure on Tsipras as Greek Talks Go to the Wire

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said it's up to the Greek government to take the next step to break the deadlock in talks with creditors ...


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Ball in your court, EU, ECB tell Athens

Germany, France and the ECB have insisted that a solution to the Greece's debt crisis lies with Athens. The message comes after talks between Greece and its creditors ended without agreement at the weekend.


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Greece has four days to get real

Greece needs to strike a deal with its creditors by Thursday or risk financial turmoil that could lead to default and exit from the eurozone.


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France and Italy argue over who should take in migrants

With a hundred Africans sleeping on rocks overlooking the Italian coast after being turned back at the French border, Rome and Paris argued on Monday over who should handle the waves of migrants landing on Italy's shores. Italy has long argued that it and Greece cannot be expected to cope alone with the influx, just because they are the closest landing points for political and economic migrants from all over Africa and the Middle East streaming towards the European Union in rickety boats. Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told reporters in Milan that scenes in Ventimiglia, where a Reuters photographer saw about 100 mostly African migrants asleep just 30 minutes from the French Riviera, were "a punch in the face to all the European countries that want to close their eyes".


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Eurozone Contagion Seems To Be A Thing Again As Greek Debt Deal Hopes Crumble

The weekend didn't bring any good news about the Greek debt crisis. A meeting on Sunday only managed to last an hour or so before everyone realised that no one had anything new to say so they all went home again. And while we've been saying that surely the crunch [...]


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Will Fed Show Its Hand, Stir Stocks From Stagnant June?

The S&P 500 (SPX) has seen its fair share of ups and downs in the first half of June, but the overall direction lacks conviction. Or is that changing? Like, real soon. This week kicks off with some noise due to failed weekend talks to rescue Greece. Just a little [...]


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Greece's course in Europe and the eurozone will continue, Greek President says

The country's course in the eurozone and Europe will continue, Greek President of Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos said in a meeting with the Administrative Committee of the Central Union of Hellenic Chambers on Monday. The Greek President also called for unity ...


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Greece Talks Once Again (Yawn) Coming Down to the Wire

Source: www.motherjones.com - Monday, June 15, 2015 Once again, talks with Greece are coming down to the last hour: Last-ditch talks aimed at breaking the impasse between Athens and its international creditors have collapsed in acrimony with European Union officials dismissing Greece’s latest reform package as incomplete in a step that pushes the country closer to leaving the eurozone. What had been billed as a last attempt to close the gap between Alexis Tsipras’s anti-austerity government and the bodies keeping debt-stricken Greece afloat was halted late on Sunday after less than an hour of negotiations in Brussels. You can click the link for more details, but the story is pretty much the same as always. Greece wants to accept modest reforms (a bit higher VAT here and there, some reforms to reduce tax evasion) while the Europeans and the IMF want bigger concessions, including cuts to pensions. So either Grexit really is close, and we're all going to find just how bad it really is, or else—as usual—everyone is waiting until literally the last second to make the concessions necessary on both sides. Both the chief economist of the IMF and the head of the ECB are urging compromise as I write. Want to follow this in real time, just like a soccer match? The Guardian has you covered! Just click here. At this particular moment there appears to be a fair amount of table thumping between Greek members of the European Parliament and Mario Draghi. Mostly theater, as near as I can tell.All Related


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