As the world watches to see if Greece will come through in paying the IMF a critical loan payment, European stocks were slightly lower this morning.
According to market news, yesterday was a negative day worldwide owing somewhat to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ announcement a referendum would be held on Sunday on whether to accept the tough bailout terms the IMF and other banks have suggested. The IMF, the European Central Bank, and some EU members are poised to collect roughly €1.6 billion euros from the Greeks today, but insiders in the dealings express severe doubts these monies will be repaid any time soon.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index showed mixed feelings on the news. This index, which combines the shares of top companies in Germany, France and other eurozone sectors, dropped almost 1% on the news. In London the FTSE 100 index slipped 0.8 percent, after a 2 percent decline a day before. As for the bond market, investors dumped peripheral eurozone dept from Italy, Spain, and from Portugal. Today’s bond yields also fell slightly in Germany, with a slight uptake in the aforementioned peripherals.
On Sunday, Capital controls announced that Greek banks and markets are to remain closed, with Athens’ finance Ministry announcing roughly 1,000 bank branch openings by tomorrow. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index suggested stocks on Wall Street would open slightly higher, but the S&P 500 fell 2.1 percent on Monday. Also, the euro fell 0.6 percent against the dollar, to $1.1166, well within its recent trading range.
In Asia markets rebounded, especially in China, where key indexes gained more than 100 percent over the past year. Rising some 5.5% on the composite, the Shanghai index gained after having fallen some 3 percent on Monday. The Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.6 percent.
via Marshall Horn, CFTC European Stocks Down on Decisive Day for Greece
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