Week Feb 24 2012 – Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“The worst trades are generally when people freeze and start to pray and hope rather than take some action” — Robert Mnuchin
1. Europe agrees to second Greek bailout — European finance ministers and other top European officials said they stand ready to provide up to 130 billion euros ($171.9 billion) of extra financial aid to Greece until 2014. The Eurogroup said they had the “expectation that the International Monetary Fund will make a significant contribution” to the new Greek aid program.
2. Oil climbs as Iran Stops Selling Oil to U.K., France — Iran said it had stopped selling crude to British and French companies, in retaliation for the EU’s import ban.
3. Fitch Downgrades Greece, Says Default ‘Highly Likely’ — AP reported that Fitch ratings agency says it has downgraded Greece further into junk status, from ‘CCC’ to ‘C’ following the announcement of the details of the country’s debt swap deal with private creditors. The agency said the downgrade indicated “that default is highly likely in the near term.”
4. Moody’s reviewing thousands of U.S. muni obligations — Moody’s Investors Service is sweeping a magnifying glass over thousands of U.S. municipal sector obligations that are linked to 26 banks currently under review for possible credit rating downgrades.
5. Tensions grow over Iran — the IAEA says it failed to win access to Iran’s suspected nuclear-related military base during two days of talks. Meanwhile, Iran said it would consider preemptive action if it felt threatened, underscoring the real possibility of a military conflict in a region holding half the world’s oil reserves.
6. Payroll-tax cuts extended — President Obama signed the payroll tax bill into law, which will extend payroll-tax cuts through the end of 2012, prolong extended unemployment benefits, and prevent a cut in pay for doctors who treat Medicare patients.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
