Titoli di Stato area Euro GRECIA Operativo titoli di stato - Cap. 1 (29 lettori)

[tommy271]

Bini Smaghi: Important That Euro-zone Govts Extend Cooperation



FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Governments across the euro zone should strive to extend their cooperation, but that doesn't mean they should enter a fully-fledged fiscal union, a key member of the European Central Bank's executive board said Monday.
"It would be risky for the euro area to move to greater fiscal and budgetary integration in order to avoid the instability associated with the current system. While solving some of the problems of the current system, the new regime could import new problems which might be politically even more difficult to tackle," Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said.
The crisis has shown that even politically-integrated federations like the U.S. can run into major difficulties, he cautioned.
"I actually think that although Europe's cultural diversity and complexity might render the decision-making more cumbersome, in the end it's wiser," Bini Smaghi said, according to the text of his speech.
The Italian economist was speaking at an event in Halle an der Saale, Germany.

 

[Gaudente]

mi sa che me ne vado in vacanza

una saggia decisione che ti consentira' un notevole risparmio.

 

[tommy271]

Greek Stocks Gain 1.28%



Greek Exchange moved between profits and losses on Monday, ending up 1.28% in an average turnover that didn’t exceed EUR100mn.

Banks gained 1.4% after fluctuating in a margin of 51units, while Mytilineos and Alpha Bank topped FTSE20’s profits, closing at session’s high.

Market analysts comment that the Athens market has to adapt to the new reality that the EUR50bn privatization program sets, while they expect a positive impact on listed companies that the state is involved.

They also note that the focus is also on the influence that the privatization program will have on the cabinet’s overall economic policy.

Guarding Trust Securities said that the market’s inability to overcome the resistance level of 1,700 units will make the market to struggle to find new catalysts to proceed with the next resistance level of 1,800 as the recent sharp rise didn’t provide a clear support level.

"We are seeing only technical flows and not long-term positions because there is nervousness over EU debt resolution plans and a lack of clarity over local economic policy," George Goufas, head of institutional trading at National Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

"Investors are not looking at stock specific financial data but trying to absorb the weekend news-flow, especially the prospective EUR50 privatization plans recommended by the IMF and EU”, he added.

Across the board, the General Index ended at 1642.70 units, up 1.28%. Approximately 32.7mn units worth EUR95.82mn were traded, while a total amount of 92 shares rose, 71 declined and 121 remained unchanged.

Alpha Bank’s rise of 3.21% stood out in the banking sector, while Marfin Popular Bank followed with profits of 2.75%. Piraeus Bank, National Bank and Eurobank rose by 1.92%, 1.49% and 0.92% respectively, while ATEbank, Proton Bank and Hellenic Postbank declined by 3.53%, 3.33% and 1.75% respectively. Bank of Cyprus remained unchanged.

(capital.gr)

 

[tommy271]

EU discusses rescue fund, Berlin eyes package deal


By Annika Breidthardt and John O'Donnell
BRUSSELS | Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:15am EST



BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European finance ministers assessed ways of strengthening their 440 billion euro rescue fund on Monday, but Germany remained reluctant to bolster the facility without commitments on closer economic coordination.

Monday's talks are supposed to prepare the ground for a "comprehensive package" of measures European leaders are hoping to agree in late March to resolve the year-long debt crisis.

While there is no consensus yet on all potential changes, the euro zone appears to be coming close to an agreement that the rescue fund -- the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) -- should be made stronger and more flexible.

"The most important thing is to make sure the 440 billion can be used, give it a little bit more flexibility to operate on the market and I think there should be political consensus around that," Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said.

The EFSF has euro zone government guarantees for up to 440 billion euros ($596 billion), but its effective capacity is only about 250 billion because of guarantees built into the fund.

That sum could be insufficient to bail out more than two countries if both Portugal and potentially Spain were to follow Greece and Ireland in needing a bailout.

To increase the effective lending capacity, euro zone countries are considering either raising their guarantees for the fund or raising guarantees and injecting cash into it.

NO DECISIONS ON MONDAY

Ministers will also explore making the fund more flexible, which could include allowing it to buy the bonds of distressed countries, or other similar steps.

The ministers are to narrow down the number of options on the table, but make no final decisions.

"We will have no decisions today, but we have said it will have to be a complete package with all three elements: the competitiveness pact, the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) agreement and the EFSF by the end of March," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on entering the meeting.

EU leaders are to meet on March 24-25 to strike a deal on the comprehensive package of steps. Schaeuble repeated the German position that no increase in the EFSF was immediately necessary since no country was applying for a new bailout now.

Germany, whose support as Europe's largest economy is essential to any deal, is reluctant to back an increase in the EFSF unless other euro zone member states sign up to measures to cut spending and make their economies more competitive.

Financial markets were calmer in the first few weeks of this year, but renewed concerns have emerged in the past 10 days, after EU leaders failed to make progress at a summit on February 4.

Yields on Portugal's 10-year bonds set new record highs last week at 7.65 percent on a perceived lack of progress toward resolving the bloc's crisis. Portugal is regarded as the next likely candidate for a bailout.

"Concerns about a European debt rescue plan will remain in place until March, and that is definitely a risk for the euro," said Sven Schubert, currency strategist at Credit Suisse in Zurich.


MORE COMPETITIVENESS


The "competitiveness pact," backed by France, envisages higher retirement ages, national laws to cap debt, a common corporate tax base and an end to indexing wages to inflation.

But other euro zone countries complain the Franco-German proposal has not even been properly presented to them and while no one opposes the idea of becoming more competitive, many disagree with elements of the pact reported in the press.

"We are in complete ignorance of the elements of this pact. It will not be part of today's meeting, but for the European Council on March 11," Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters before the meeting.

"It will have to be determined then what the additional value is of such a pact."

At the start of their meeting, the ministers agreed to recommend that Belgium's Peter Praet be nominated to the executive board of the European Central Bank over his Slovak rival Elena Kohutikova, an EU source told Reuters.

Later on Monday euro zone ministers and ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet will be joined by ministers from the 10 non-euro members of the European Union to discuss the European Stability Mechanism, which is to take over crisis resolution from mid-2013.

A euro zone source taking part in the preparations for the meeting said the European Commission had proposed that the size of the ESM should be 500 billion euros for the support of solvent countries with liquidity problems.

But several euro zone sources said there was no agreement yet on the Commission proposal.

 

[tommy271]

Euro Ministers Discussing EUR500B Bailout Fund - Source



("UPDATE:Euro Ministers Discussing EUR500B Bailout Fund - Source," at 1734 GMT, misstated interest on the loan in the ninth paragraph. The correct version follows.)


By Costas Paris and Matthew Dalton
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--Euro-zone finance ministers are discussing plans for a EUR500 billion fund that would provide emergency financing to the euro area countries from June 2013, people familiar with the talks said Monday.

The actual lending capacity of the fund would be EUR500 billion, these people said, a significant increase over the euro area's current fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, which only EUR250 billion of lending capacity.

Governments would have to contribute EUR100 billion in upfront capital to the fund, to be called the European Stabilization Mechanism, officials said. Additional capital could be called from the governments if necessary up to the full EUR500 billion amount, they said.

"But the prerequisite on the ESM and before that on the European Financial Stability Facility is agreement on the German-inspired competitiveness pact," the official said.

"The pact will not be discussed in any detail these two days. It's in the hands of EU President Herman Van Rompuy and the heads of EU governments. So we basically discussing as if there was agreement on the pact," the official added.

Another EU official said the talks on the EFSF/ESM have been "separated" from the competitiveness pact.

Apart from the ESM, which will replace the EUR440 billion EFSF in mid-2013 as a permanent bailout mechanism, the finance ministers will debate aligning the repayment periods and cutting the interest rates for Greek and Irish loans.

The two countries got a combined EUR177.5 billion last year in loans from the EU and the International Monetary Fund to avoid default.

The first official said the talk is to extend the repayment period for both countries to around 10 years and slashing the interest on the loans from above 5% now to about 4% "or a bit less."

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn said it will be necessary to reform the EFSF and that should include a cut in the interest rate paid by governments that use the facility.

"It is essential to reinforce the effective lending capacity of the financial backstops, the EFSF, and in that context, the commission is of the view that we have to look at pricing policy because of the real issue of debt sustainability," he said earlier Monday.

The talk on the EFSF will focus on increasing its capacity and allowing it to buy bonds from EU countries that can't borrow from the market.

But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the euro-zone finance ministers aren't likely to agree on major reforms to the EFSF at their meeting Monday.

"On the sidelines we will probably discuss whether there is a need to discuss additional measures for the EFSF in the short term, but the markets are so stable that we probably won't "We'll discuss all these questions but it's clear that we won't take any decisions," he said.

The first official said Germany sees any talk about boosting the EFSF as "simply academic" if there is no agreement on the competitiveness pact

The pact, which is also supported by France, calls for far-reaching reforms on the euro-zone countries, including a higher retirement age, harmonized corporate tax policy and an end to rules that index wages to the inflation rate.

EU leaders at their Feb. 4 summit overwhelmingly rebuffed the Franco-German effort. Van Rompuy has been given the task of preparing concrete proposals on the reforms pushed by France and Germany for a special summit of euro-zone leaders set for March 11 and EU leaders have committed themselves to a final deal at a summit March 24.

 

[tommy271]

Italia non è a rischio, Germania esempio competitività - Draghi

lunedì 14 febbraio 2011 18:16



FRANCOFORTE, 14 febbraio (Reuters) - L'Italia non è un Paese a rischio mentre la Germania è un esempio di competitività per tutti i paesi dell'Unione europea.
Lo ha detto il governatore della Banca d'Italia e presidente dell'Fsb, Mario Draghi, in una intervista alla Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung che è stata anticipata alle agenzie.
"Dobbiamo tutti seguire l'esempio della Germania. La Germania ha aumentato la sua competitività facendo riforme strutturali. Questo dovrebbe essere un esempio", dice il governatore.
Per Draghi "l'Italia non è un Paese a rischio".
Per quel che riguarda i livelli attuali degli spread, nei titoli di Stato di alcuni Paesi europei "c'è ora un effetto di sovrastima, una esagerazione, così come prima c'era una sottovalutazione".
"Se l'Europa fosse non solo una unione monetaria, ma anche un'Unione con le stesse tasse e le stesse politiche di bilancio, gli eurobond avrebbero senso. Ma noi non siamo una unione fiscale o di bilancio", ha detto Draghi.
Il governatore ha anche avvertito che una crescita accompagnata da un livello alto di inflazione non sarebbe di aiuto ai paesi più deboli.



***
Draghi è in corsa per il dopo Trichet ...

 

[tommy271]

Greece: 50 billion from state property feasible

By ELENA BECATOROS - Feb 14, 2011 7:26 PM GMT+0100 Mon Feb 14 18:26:21 GMT 2011
By The Associated Press


ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece insisted Monday that a target of raising euro50 billion from by development of state assets by 2015 was realistic, but that the issue should not have been announced by the country's international debt inspectors.

The first public spat between Greece and its international rescuers broke out over the weekend after representatives of the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission said Friday that Greece must privatize euro50 billion ($68 billion) in state assets by 2015 and speed up structural reforms in coming months to keep its troubled finances afloat.

The three institutions, collectively known in Greece as the troika, are supervising reforms essential to the disbursement of funds from a three-year euro110 billion package of rescue loans that saved Greece from defaulting on its debts.

Government spokesman Giorgos Petalotis issued a sharp rebuke in the early hours of Saturday accusing the troika of interfering in Greece's domestic affairs and overstepping the boundaries of their roles. Prime Minister George Papandreou also discussed the issue with IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

In a statement appeared designed to dampen Greek tempers, the three institutions responded by saying they respected Greek decision-making and that any impression to the contrary was "regrettable."

Petalotis insisted Monday that the euro50 billion figure was a target set by Greece, and showed the government was aiming to make structural reforms and develop state property. He stressed the figure — seven times larger than a target set only three months ago — referred to the development, not the sale, of state assets.

"We are not talking about sales, we are not talking about selling out, as we are accused of doing," he said.

The reason for his rebuke was because the announcement should have been made by the government rather than by the international debt inspectors, he said.

"Setting such a target, with such a high bar, was and is our decision, that of the Greek government, and that is exactly why we said clearly that this stance by the troika representatives was unacceptable," Petalotis said. "They have no right to announce Greek government decisions."

Petalotis said that several political leaders, including the prime minister, have said in the past that Greece's state assets that can be developed amount to "more than euro270 billion. So we consider that the target of euro50 billion is realistic, but it is indicative and not limiting."

The dispute has fueled political fingerpointing in Greece, with the main opposition conservatives accusing the government of mishandling the situation and calling for Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou to resign — a call the government has rejected.

It has also led to media speculation of early elections — which was also dismissed by the government, elected to a four-year term in Oct. 2009.

"Let us repeat one more time that there is no reason to hold elections," Petalotis said.

The government's reforms, which have included cuts to public sector salaries and pensions, higher taxes and the opening up of previously closed professions to more competition, have been widely unpopular among Greeks who have seen their incomes fall and cost of living rise.

Public transport workers have held a series of near-daily strikes, with Athens metro workers walking off the job for several hours Monday and staging a motorized demonstration on motorbikes and scooters through the center of the capital. All public transport workers are to hold a 24-hour strike Tuesday.

 

[tommy271]

Resoconto dell'Eurogruppo:

http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/fina...trova-intesa-fondo-221544.shtml?uuid=AatJlM8C

 

[tommy271]

PM to visit Berlin, Helsinki next week



Prime Minister George Papandreou will be visiting Berlin and Helsinki next week, arriving in the German capital on Feb. 21.

He is scheduled to meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel a week from Tuesday and will travel to Helsinki on February 23, for talks with the Finnish leadership.

Germany and Finland were the two countries that adopted the toughest stance on the issue of a Competitiveness Pact during the last EU summit meeting.

(ana.gr)

 

[tommy271]

Greek bond market closing report




(ANA-MPA) -- The yield spread between the 10-year Greek and German benchmark bonds widened to 825 basis points in the Greek electronic secondary bond market on Monday, from 810 bps on Friday, with the Greek bond yielding 11.55 pct and the German Bund 3.28 pct. Turnover in the market was a low 33 million euros, of which 29 million were sell orders and the remaining 4.0 million euros were buy orders. The 10-year benchmark bond was the most heavily traded security with a turnover of 13 million euros.

In interbank markets, interest rates were largely unchanged. The 12-month rate was 1.716 pct, the six-month rate 1.35 pct, the three-month rate was 1.09 pct and the one-month rate 0.91 pct.

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Sempre utili i dati che ci pervengono dal secondario ellenico.