As
Podemos rises, will Spain become the next Greece? - (www.cnbc.com) Tens
of thousands marched in Madrid on Saturday in the biggest show of support yet
for Spanish anti-austerity party Podemos, whose policies and surging
pre-election popularity have drawn comparisons with Greece's new Syriza rulers.
Crowds chanted "yes we can" or "tic tac tic tac" to suggest
the clock was ticking for Spain's scandal-ridden political elite. Many waved
Greek and Republican flags and banners reading "the change is now" or
"Pablo president". Podemos ("We Can") was formed just a
year ago by university professor Pablo Iglesias, but produced a major shock by
winning five seats in elections for the European Parliament in May. Tapping
into Spaniards' austerity fatigue and widespread anger at "la casta",
as it calls the country's business and political elites, it is currently
topping opinion polls in the run-up to local, regional and national elections
this year.
Russia extends olive branch
to Greeks - (www.cnbc.com) Russian
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told CNBC that Russia would consider giving
financial help to debt-ridden Greece—just days after the new Greek government
questioned further European Union sanctions against Russia. Siluanov said
Greece had not yet requested Russia for assistance, but he did not rule out
an agreement between the two countries if Greececame asking. "Well, we can imagine any
situation, so if such [a] petition is submitted to the Russian government, we
will definitely consider it, but will take into account all the factors of our
bilateral relationships between Russia and Greece, so that is all I can say. If
it is submitted we will consider it," Siluanov told CNBC in an exclusive
interview in Moscow on Thursday. Siluanov's comments come two days after
Greece's new left-wing-led government distanced itself from calls to increase
sanctions against Russia—indicating that Greece could be looking east to Russia
for support. On Tuesday, EU leaders issued a statement calling for
"further restrictive measures" to be considered against Russia with
regard to its involvement in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
JPMorgan
to pay $99.5 million to resolve currency rigging lawsuit - (www.reuters.com) JPMorgan Chase & Co, the largest U.S. bank, agreed to pay $99.5
million to settle its portion of an antitrust lawsuit in which investors accuse
12 major banks of rigging prices in the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange
market. Made public on Friday night, the settlement is the first in the
nationwide litigation and resolved claims over JPMorgan's role in alleged
collusion among banks since January 2003 to manipulate the WM/Reuters Closing
Spot Rates, known as the Fix. It followed the New York-based bank's agreements
last November to pay roughly $1 billion in civil penalties to resolve related
claims by U.S. and European regulators. Investors including hedge funds,
pension funds and the city of Philadelphia accused the 12 banks, which
controlled 84 percent of the global currency trading market, of having impeded
competition by conspiring to manipulate the Fix in chat rooms, instant messages
and emails. The JPMorgan settlement could form a basis for other settlements.
It followed mediation with Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who also oversees General
Motors Co's program to compensate drivers over faulty vehicle ignition
switches.
Germany
is done writing off Greece's debt - (www.businessinsider.com) German
Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out any cancellation of Greece's debt and said
the country has already received substantial cuts from banks and creditors. "There
has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have
already slashed billions from Greece's debt," Merkel said in an interview
with the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. "I do not envisage fresh debt
cancellation," she said. The new Greek government has already begun to
roll back years of austerity measures demanded by the EU and the International
Monetary Fund in return for a 240 billion euro ($269 billion) bailout granted
to avoid a financial meltdown in 2010, and says it will negotiate to halve the
debt. At the start of 2012, Greece restructured its debt in a deal involving
private creditors who took "haircuts" or wrote down parts of their
holdings. This cut Greece's total debt burden by around 100 billion euros. But
the country is still lumbered with a debt pile of more than 315 billion euros,
upwards of 175 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a record for the
European Union.
ECB
Threatens Athens With Bank Funding Cutoff If No Deal In One Month: February 28
Is Now D-Day For Greece - (www.zerohedge.com) Earlier
today the ECB's Erikki Liikanen, tired of pleasantries and dealing with what to
Europe is a completely incomprehensible and illogical stance, one which is
essentially a massive defection by Greece in the European
"prisoner's dilemma", and which while leading to a Greek financial
collapse and Grexit - both prerequisites to a subsequent Greek economic
recovery unburdened by the shackles of the Euro - would also unleash a
European depression, came out and directly threatened Greece that it now has 1
month until the end of February to reach a deal with the Troika, or else
the ECB would cut off lending to Greek banks, in the process destroying the
otherwise insolvent Greek banking sector.
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