Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Get the news
Log In or Subscribe to skip
160 2 [h=6]Share This Story![/h]Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about
[h=4]Leaked letter appears to show Athens ready to concede to creditor demands[/h]European markets and U.S. stock futures barreled higher Wednesday after a leaked letter from Greece's government to eurozone officials appeared to show that Athens is ready to concede to creditor demands over new bailout terms.
{# #}
[h=4]Sent![/h]A link has been sent to your friend's email address.
[h=4]Posted![/h]A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
[h=6]Join the Nation's Conversation[/h]To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs
[h=2]UP NEXT[/h][h=2]03[/h]
The Greek government submitted a request to European Stability Mechanism for a two-year agreement to will fully cover the country's financing needs and includes debt restructuring at the same time. Bloomberg
Pensioners try to enter a bank in Athens on July 1, 2015.(Photo: AP)
European markets and U.S. stock futures barreled higher Wednesday after a leaked letter from Greece's government to eurozone officials appeared to show that Athens is ready to concede to creditor demands over new bailout terms.
The memo, obtained by the Financial Times, comes as eurozone finance ministers were preparing to hold a conference call later Wednesday in Brussels to discuss a last-minute bailout proposal from Athens.
Stock markets, volatile all week, raced higher on the report.
Germany's DAX index and the CAC 40 in Paris advanced around 3%. Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 stock futures were all up 1% after earlier trading flat.
"As you will note, our amendments are concrete and they fully respect the robustness and credibility of the design of the overall program," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote in the letter, sent to Brussels late Tuesday.
One of the demands Athens is refusing to back down on, the letter shows, is changing a tax discount for Greece's remote islands.
The emergency conference call in Brussels comes after eurozone officials rejected an appeal from Athens to extend a $270 billion international aid package that has been propping up Greece's economy since the financial crisis.
When Greece failed to repay $1.8 billion to the IMF on Tuesday might it joined the ranks of Zimbabwe, Haiti, Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan under the Taliban — all nations that have reneged on IMF loans.
It also became the first developed-world country to miss a repayment to the IMF.
No new financial lifeline for Greece was immediately forthcoming.
After Greece's second bailout program came to an abrupt end, the country's finance ministry ordered around 1,000 banks to reopen Wednesday so that retirees who don't have bank cards would be able to cash pension checks.
Banks across Greece have been closed since Monday and cash withdrawal limits for residents at ATMs — about $68 per day — have been put in place.
On Sunday, Greece is expected to hold a national referendum on the austerity measures demanded by its international creditors — the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission — in return for a new aid package.
Greece's ruling Syriza party under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says the vote is necessary to strengthen his government's negotiating position. European leaders counter that the vote is effectively a judgment on whether Greece wants to stay in the eurozone, a 19-nation economic and currency collective.
USA TODAY
Greeks eke by on little cash
A new opinion poll published Wednesday by the Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper showed that most Greeks are likely to vote "No" to the terms proposed by the creditors, but the "No" side's lead appeared to be narrowing.
The European Central Bank is also meeting Wednesday, in Frankfurt, to discuss whether it should alter the terms under which it has been providing emergency finance to Greece's banks.
Without that support, Greek lenders could find it increasingly difficult to meet their short-term liquidity needs, a scenario that could dramatically up the stakes for Athens as it tries to avert financial collapse ahead of Sunday's vote.
USA TODAY
Greece tourism unaffected by financial crisis
0) { %> 0) { %>
0) { %>
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed