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15 Feb ’12
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looks like Greece got bailed out again
ATHENS — On Monday morning, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras capitulated in Brussels to keep the euro zone together. He returned home hours later to find a country split apart.
After a marathon 17-hour summit that turned into one of the most contentious diplomatic standoffs in European Union history, Tsipras acquiesced to a punishing ultimatum from his country’s European creditors. In exchange for a $96 billion rescue — Greece’s third in five years — he agreed to lightning-fast passage of reforms and a pledge to adhere to harsh austerity measures to save Greek banks and keep the country in the euro.
But by late Monday, it was becoming clear that the bailout that could save his nation might also cost him his job.
Tsipras had acceded far more than simple austerity, agreeing to what may amount to a fire sale of Greek utilities — or even plots of land on its famed islands — to help repay its debt. Coming from a man once seen as a leftist maverick who had pledged to free Greece from the shackles of financial injustice, the decision to surrender to European demands immediately sparked an insurrection within the unlikely ruling coalition of the far-left and the populist right.
15 Feb ’12
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looks like PR is going to default
Standard & Poor's cut the credit rating of Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank (GDB) to 'CC' from 'CCC-' on Tuesday, saying a near-term default at the U.S. territory's financing arm was a virtual certainty.
The downgrade comes after the GDB said it may seek to buy back up to $4 billion of notes at below par as the U.S. commonwealth attempts to restructure up to $72 billion in debt, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.
"We would deem such an exchange as distressed and consider it a default under our criteria," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Brendan Browne in a statement.
Standard & Poor's 'C' rating is a non-investment grade that indicates a high risk of default.
The GDB is set to make a $93.7 million payment due to Puerto Rico Public Finance Corp on Aug. 1.
Puerto Rico has asked holders of its debt to enter into a voluntary restructuring after its governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, said in late June that the Caribbean island of 3.6 million could not pay what it owes.
15 Feb ’12
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Think they will get a bail out?
Puerto Rico does not have enough cash flow to meet its upcoming Public Finance Corp. payment of $169.60 million due on Aug. 1, the Governor's Chief of Staff, Victor Suarez, said Monday.
Suarez added that the commonwealth's government is considering raising between $400 and $500 million through Puerto Rico's gas tax as a repayment source.
15 Feb ’12
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well I guess not if the hedge fund managers have their way
Billionaire hedge fund managers have called on Puerto Rico to lay off teachers and close schools so that the island can pay them back the billions it owes.
The hedge funds called for Puerto Rico to avoid financial default – and repay its debts – by collecting more taxes, selling $4bn worth of public buildings and drastically cutting public spending, particularly on education.
The group of 34 hedge funds hired former International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists to come up with a solution to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis after the island’s governor declared its $72bn debt “unpayable” – paving the way for bankruptcy.
15 Feb ’12
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this man seems to think so
Noted short seller Bill Fleckenstein, who correctly predicted the financial crisis in 2007, says he is one step closer to opening up a short-focused fund for the first time since 2009. In the meantime, Fleckenstein says the entire market could be heading for calamity in the coming months.
"The market is uniquely crash-prone," Fleckenstein told CNBC's "Fast Money" this week. "I think the market is very brittle because of high-frequency trading, ETFs, a lot of momentum investors. I don't think there's going to be any painless back door."
Fleckenstein, the president of Fleckenstein Capital, said he was targeting Oct. 1 to open up his fund, and said there is one overarching reason why conditions are perfect right now to be short the market.
"The reason why I closed my short fund in March of '09 is the very same reason that I'm going to launch it again. And that's because the Fed," he said.
15 Feb ’12
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things are getting dire in venezuela
Venezuela Is Running Out of Beer
The largest beer distributor in Venezuela is beginning to shut down some its breweries, causing widespread frustration in an already resource-strapped country.
Cerveceria Polar, which distributes 80% of Venezuela’s beer, says the lack of barley, hops and other ingredients has forced the shutdown. Other beverages like milk and bottled water have been in short supply for months, but the lack of beer is angering some Venezuelans even more, according to merchants. “People are more freaked out about losing beer than water—it shows how distorted our priorities have become here,” Yefferson Ramirez, a worker at a liquor store, told The Guardian.
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