Athens denied claims that Greece is going to default over the weekend. “It is not the first time that such a organized wave of ‘rumors’ about an alleged default apprear. This is a bad game and an organized speculation directed against the euro and the euro zone as a whole” Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos said in a statement on Friday evening.
A denial came also from Germany, with German Finance Ministry spokesman Johannes Blankenheim telling to Dow Jones:
“A plan B, there is not such question for now. We are working on the decisions of July 21st and we are optimistic that we bring these resolutions and the Plan A through the Parliament and we will be successful.” (Maerkische Allgemeine)
Greek government spokesman Ilias Mosialos dismissed the claims and commented:
“This is an extremely irresponsible publication and I wonder why Bloomberg published it”
On Friday Bloomberg published a report quoting anonymous German sources, claiming that Berlin readies plan to help banks if Greece default:
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is preparing plans to shore up German banks in the event that Greece fails to meet the terms of its aid package and defaults, three coalition officials said.
The emergency plan involves measures to help banks and insurers that face a possible 50 percent loss on their Greek bonds if the next tranche of Greece’s bailout is withheld, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are being held in private. The successor to the German government’s bank-rescue fund introduced in 2008 might be enrolled to help recapitalize the banks, one of the people said.
The existence of a “Plan B” underscores German concerns that Greece’s failure to stick to budget-cutting targets threatens European efforts to tame the debt crisis rattling the euro. German lawmakers stepped up their criticism of Greece this week, threatening to withhold aid unless it meets the terms of its austerity package, after an international mission to Athens suspended its report on the country’s progress.
Bloomberg’s publication came just hours after finance blog Zerohedge posted an anonymous e-mail claiming that “Markets ‘chatter’ over a Greek default this weekend”. The internet rumors were dismissed by a Greek finance ministry official as “rubbish” (Dow Jones).
PS It would be unfair to default over the weekend then we would have no possibilities to rush to the banks and withdraw our money . I have just €31, 42 in my pocket and €68,58 at the bank…
Bloomberg is loosing rapidly it’s credibility. They are used and use their ‘news’ to manipulate the markets. Earlier this week there was this http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-07/canon-clinging-to-mirrors-means-opportunity-for-sony-cameras.html example about Nikon and Canon. It was the second of these publications in one week. And they were almost identical.
Someone is busy to create a nice drop in value for the stock of Nikon and Canon with total fuzz. Little dent in the stockprize and they will cash in in two weeks time.
So, why should it be different with this ‘Plan B’ or ‘Greek default this weekend’? I, for my part have deleted them from my bookmarks.
yes, there is a lot of market manipulation and great speculation. Let’s just enjoy the weekendation!