Greece
Greece takes grudging step towards bailout
Greek government initiates procedures concerning proposed $40 billion rescue with eurozone and IMF, problems anticipated in joint effort
BoJ study links widening CDS spreads in Greece to greater sovereign debt risk
Bank of Japan study shows strong relationship between fiscal health and CDS spreads
Greece’s $40 billion bailout an improvement, but issues remain
Markets soothed as firm details of Greek rescue plan are announced, eurozone will provide €30 billion at discounted 5% rate for year forward, analysts less convinced
Greek woes worsen as Fitch downgrades and capital flees
Fitch knocks two notches off rating; No solution over what will be done to help country’s banks facing capital flight
Trichet: credit agencies essential
In reply to a question from MEP Nikolaos Chountis, Jean-Claude Trichet highlights the importance of rating agencies
Central banks, not debt will kill growth: economist
Independent economist Roger Nightingale charges that debt on its own is not incompatible with growth, but raising rates will kill growth
ECB in about-turn on collateral rules
Move reflects concern over Greece; Trichet says graded haircut system set to be introduced
The end is nigh for the eurozone over Greece
Economists Geoffrey Wood and Charles Dumas say the Greek debt crisis is set to tear asunder Europe’s poorly built Economic and Monetary Union, split over IMF bailout
Portugal suffers downgrade
Sovereign debt marked down a notch by Fitch; move eaxcerbates eurozone tensions
Lockhart: Fed inflation anchor under threat
Atlanta Fed’s Dennis Lockhart warns that inflation expectations may be dislodged as a result of accommodative Fed stance
Only the IMF can save Greece: Berlin
German government backs away from a European bailout for debt-ridden Greece, Fund rescue looks increasingly likely
Major economies must heed Greece lesson: Carmen Reinhart
Co-author of This Time is Different warns sovereigns on debt sustainability
Weber signals ECB could relax debt rules
Comments come after Austrian governor deemed power of rating agencies unacceptable; paves way for ECB to accept Greek debt even if downgraded
Brussels and Paris push for European monetary fund
Finance ministries of France and Germany begin devising proposals for Europe’s own Fund, body would be geared at removing bailout security net as well as providing help to euro countries
Banks’ profits plunged 40%: Greece deputy
Bank of Greece deputy governor Eleni Dendrinou-Louri says profits fell more than 40%, accompanied by a disconcerting rise in trading income
Austria’s Nowotny: power of rating agencies unacceptable
National Bank of Austria’s Ewald Nowotny says agencies’ role in fate of Greece too great
Greece not looking to bond markets for now: debt chief
Greece’s new head of public debt management says the country will not rush to tap sovereign debt markets; austerity package with extra cuts sends yields plummeting
Rogoff predicts wave of sovereign defaults
Greece will not be the only country to face threat of bankruptcy, ex-IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff warns
Greece dumps debt management chief
General manager of treasury and global markets at National Bank of Greece named new head
Bank of Greece - Bond market update (January)
Greek central bank says government bonds gained in price in the big markets last month, but lost in the smaller eurozone countries, transaction volumes soar with a majority of sell orders
Germans in favour of kicking Greece out: poll
Survey in leading newspaper shows 53% of Germans think Greece should be kicked out of the eurozone if its debt troubles cannot be resolved, 67% want no part in a bail-out
Towards a euro monetary fund
Daniel Gros and Thomas Meyer team up on fix aimed at stopping another Greece
Greece should go to IMF, not EU for aid: Issing
Former ECB chief economist advocates tough love from Washington, rejects Brussels bailout; position conflicts with senior EU bureaucrat
Greece must help itself: Trichet
Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB’s president, says the debt-ravaged country must act firmly to save itself and cannot expect special treatment