- Greece Got a 'Deal' in February, but Here's Why Things Still Haven't Calmed Down
It's one thing to have an agreement. It's another thing to implement it. On February 20th, the Eurogroup came to an agreement with Greece on a way to allow Greece access to further bailout funding.
The agreement covered the way forward for Greece and consisted of three main elements.
- Greek Alternative Reality Clashes With Euro Area Losing Patience. Ask Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis about his country’s predicament, and you’re likely to get a very different response from the one echoing around the euro region. The Athens University professor said on Monday he’s convinced the six-week-old government is doing what’s needed to secure more funding and avoid bankruptcy. His counterparts, during a euro-area finance ministers’ meeting, spoke of mixed messages, dawdling and a lack of detail over Greece’s deteriorating financial situation. Impressions aside, Greece is running out of time, money and friends. France’s Michel Sapin, whose government had made the most conciliatory noises toward Greek calls for less austerity, expressed frustration with Varoufakis. Spain’s finance minister, concerned about an anti-austerity insurrection at home, also hardened the rhetoric.
- Draghi-Backed Report Says Sovereign Debt No More a Risk-Free Bet. Government debt can no longer be considered a risk-free asset for banks, and international regulators should consider changing the existing legislation, the European Systemic Risk Board said. “If sovereign exposures are in fact subject to default risk, consistency with a risk-focused approach to prudential regulation and supervision requires that this default risk is taken into account,” the ESRB said in a report on Tuesday, citing the majority view among its panel of experts. “Current prudential regulation of sovereign exposures is inconsistent with the conceptual approach that underlies the existing system of regulation.”
- European Stocks Fall With Energy Shares Amid U.S. Rate Concern. European stocks fell for a second day as oil-and-gas shares dropped and concern grew the Federal Reserve is nearing an interest-rate increase. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.9 percent to 389.66 at the close of trading. It earlier rose as much as 0.2 percent. All 19 industry groups fell, with energy shares dropping the most. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BG Group Plc and BP Plc dropped more than 3 percent as crude fell for a fifth day amid signs a global supply glut will persist.
- History Suggests OPEC's Days Could Be Numbered. Could lower oil prices be the end of OPEC? As OPEC 's refusal to curb oil production contributes to a nine-month plunge in prices, a new paper suggests the group's days may be numbered.
- Fed Spurring Hedges in U.S. Stocks as Call Index Drops: Options. As the bull market in U.S. equities enters its seventh year, options traders are loading up on contracts to protect against losses if the rally loses steam. The ISE Sentiment Index, which tracks the number of calls traded relative to puts, touched the lowest level since June 2013 last week after a surge in hiring fueled speculation the Federal Reserve will raise borrowing costs this year.
- Russian Auto Sales Plunge 38%. February’s decline accelerates; worst hit are midprice brands such as Chevrolet, Nissan.
- CIA Gave Justice Department Secret Phone Scanning Technology. Marshals Service uses airborne devices that mimic cell towers to scan data on thousands of cellphones.
ZeroHedge:
- Recession Alarm: Wholesale Sales Plunge Alongside Factory Orders, Worst Since Lehman. (graph)
- Central Banks Are Crack Dealers & Faith Healers.
- Dear Treasury Secretary Lew: Here Is All You Need To Know About HFT. (graph)
- Why Is Per Capita Energy Consumption At Recession Levels After Six Years Of "Recovery"? (graph)
- 30-Year Bund Yield Hits Record Low As Curve Flattens. (graph)
- Consumer Spending Tumbles: BofA Blames Snow, Oil; Claims Its Models Are Right, Reality Is Wrong. (graph)
- WTI Crude Slides To $48 Handle As Chevron Cuts Costs, Ramps Production. (graph)
- Next Mega-Bailout On Deck: White House Studying "New Bankruptcy Options" For Student-Loan Borrowers. (graph)
- Do Not Show Mario Draghi This Chart. (graph)
- US May Run Out Of Oil Storage Space As Soon As June. (graph)
- A reporter pretended to be a jihadi bride to expose how ISIS lures women.
- The euro is so weak it's almost at parity with the dollar. (graph)
- It sounds like Obama doesn't have any friends on the world stage.
- Target(TGT) just started firing thousands of workers.
- Deutsche Bank says the euro is going to $0.85.
- More Russian tanks, equipment cross Ukraine border: U.S. official. Russian tanks and heavy military equipment have crossed the Ukrainian border in the last few days in breach of a European-brokered ceasefire agreed on Feb. 12, a senior U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. The comments by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, Victoria Nuland, follow accusations by Ukraine and Western governments that Russia continues to send troops and weapons to support separatists in eastern Ukraine despite the ceasefire deal, a charge the Kremlin has denied. Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia a year ago, was "suffering a reign of terror," Nuland told a congressional hearing on Ukraine, adding that the White House was still considering whether to arm Ukraine's military.
Investing.com:
- Russia stocks lower at close of trade. Russia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Manufacturing, Mining and Power sectors led shares lower. At the close in Moscow, the RTSI fell 6.43%, while the MICEX indexfell 3.65%.
- Emerging marker currencies plunge as dollar soars. Emerging currencies sold off further on Tuesday with Turkey’s lira and South Africa’s rand hitting multi-year lows against a stronger dollar as expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike compound domestic fiscal and political woes.
- Defiant Greece at daggers drawn with EU creditors. If Greeks are forced to choose between a restoration of their dignity or continued Troika humiliation, they will choose dignity, says the Greek prime minister.