Euro, U.S. Stocks Retreat as Optimism Over Greece Talks Fades
February 08, 2012, 11:56 AM ESTBy Allison Bennett and Rita Nazareth
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The euro erased earlier gains versus the dollar and U.S. equities reversed their advance amid concern that Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and coalition party members will fail to agree on terms for a bailout.
The euro slipped 0.2 percent to $1.3241 at 11:07 a.m. in New York after yesterday reaching an almost two-month high. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent, reversing a 0.3 percent earlier advance. Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields were little changed at 1.98 percent.
Papademos meets today with the nation’s political leaders to negotiate terms of a 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) rescue package, while the nation’s private creditors will meet in Paris tomorrow to discuss a debt-restructuring deal.
“Regardless of all the deal making, in the final solution, Greece, its leaders and its people are not going to agree to anything unless there is a silver lining and a return to growth,” said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist in New York at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. “It’s not credible to think they’ll agree to measures that have recession as far as the eye can see.”
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael P. Regan at mregan12@bloomberg.net
