Greece and Europe finally agreed to a bailout deal. Investors are still worried.
While the eurozone bailout plan points Greece in the right direction — and away from the possibility of a much-feared Greek exit from the European currency bloc — investors caution that the financially fraught country still has a long journey ahead. As one investment manager described it to The Wall Street Journal, the new agreement was "yet another final deadline for Greece" in a long line of many more to come. Greece's next deadline is on Wednesday, when its parliament must pass legislation for reform, including pension overhauls and sales-tax increases — conditions voters overwhelmingly rejected in a referendum just a week ago.
Investors are trying to be optimistic about the crisis averted. But as Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said, many believe "Greece's future inside the eurozone remains under huge doubt." Loynes wrote in a note to clients:
With the crisis having done enormous damage to the Greek economy and financial systems in recent months, it is impossible to imagine that conditions will now return to anything like normal. Capital controls are likely to have to remain in place and the additional austerity needed to build up the primary surpluses will weaken the economy further. In short, a Greek exit from the eurozone might just have been kicked down the road a bit. [Jonathan Loynes, via The Wall Street Journal]
Even for investors somewhat eased by the "initial surge lower in Italian and Spanish borrowing costs," Reuters reports that the consensus is still to remain cautious. Jim Leaviss, head of retail fixed interest at M&G Investments, explained that "the deal helps immediate liquidity, but does little to reduce Greece's debt burden," further exacerbating the notion that this is just a can kicked down the road.
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