Europe

According to the Eurogroup, "this new programme provides a comprehensive blueprint for putting the public finances and the economy of Greece back on a sustainable footing and hence for safeguarding financial stability in Greece and in the…

The just announced 2GB — Second Greece Bailout — is a misnomer. We wouldn’t exactly call a deal where private creditors reschedule all maturing bond payments for the next ten or so years into a 30-year bullet with a 50+ percent effective…

The Czech Republic is the first economy in central and eastern Europe to slide back into a full technical recession during the current downturn (evidently it is unlikely to be the last).

The combination of a 50 bp cut in China's required reserve ratios and anticipation that the European finance ministers sign off on the second aid package for Greece has lifted equity markets and most of the non-US dollar currencies.

There are two sets of important developments over the weekend that will influence the global capital markets. The first is in China and the second in Europe.

A friend commented to me when he saw the story that Iceland had been upgraded by Fitch, the ratings agency, that this "sure makes default look palatable". Obviously, Iceland is not out of the woods yet but their relative success says there…

On Tuesday night, I spoke to Amanda Lang and Kevin O'Leary about Greece. The question was whether they were going to default and leave the euro zone. My response is that the euro zone is not ready politically for a default and so I think…

Part of the rise of Italy under Monti is a function of how far it had slipped under Berlusconi. Another aspect of Italy's improvement is a function of the Monti's fellow countryman Draghi, who at the helm of the ECB has reversed Trichet's…

My takeaway here is that people are desperate and they are willing to support any party that has a solution to their economic plight, irrespective of whether that party is considered extreme.

The financial situation in Greece is deteriorating at a remarkable clip.