Pessimism reigns among investors. A full 93 percent expect Greece to default, according to Bloombergâs quarterly Global Poll last week. Some 56 percent said Portugal is heading for the same fate, while a majority now sees Ireland, the third aid recipient, returning to fiscal health. Sarkozyâs Support âThe failure of Greece would be the failure of all of Europe,â French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters Sept. 30 after hosting Papandreou in Paris. âRemember in 2008, when the U.S. let Lehman Brothers fail, the global financial system paid the price. For both economic reasons and moral reasons, we canât let Greece fail.â Fourteen of the 17 euro countries have approved the reinforcement of the temporary rescue fund. Of the three to go, Slovakia poses the biggest hurdle, with Prime Minister Iveta Radicova squaring off against euro-skeptics within her coalition. Slovakia is slated to vote by Oct. 17. The revamped fund, known as the European Financial Stability Facility, will obtain the powers to buy bonds on the primary and secondary markets, offer precautionary credit lines and enable capital infusions for banks. Germanyâs passage of the upgraded EFSF last week unleashed debate over how to scale up the fundâs 440 billion-euro capacity, potentially by giving it a banking license, using it for bond insurance or to offer credit enhancements. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...scapegoat-tax-in-race-for-crisis-answers.html The Greece will default trade is so crowded, I can hardly believe EVERYBODY will earn a buck or two...
Hasn't the default already started? Banks started to agree to receive only 80% or so for their bonds? Currently that may not amount to much of the whole Greek debt - especially since the banks unloaded their bonds to the ECB or whomever. But the dam is broken.
France and Germany are holding only aggregated 17% of Greek bond exposure. This whole "Greek situation" is simply FEAR MONGERING from clueless media outlets...