European leaders expressed optimism on Friday that Greece would secure a new rescue package worth 130 billion euros ($171 billion) though policymakers admitted urgent work was still needed to get its debt-cutting programme back on track. Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, who will chair a crunch meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday, said efforts to
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Greek bank shares gained more than 7% on Friday on investor optimism that Monday's meeting of euro zone finance ministers will give the green light for a bond swap scheme to cut the country's debt load and secure a second bailout. "Investors expect a positive outcome at Monday's Eurogroup meeting and shares are reflecting this,"
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Whether or not Greece secures a new bailout to avoid bankruptcy next month, relations between Athens and Germany look close to breaking point. Their inflammatory exchanges reflect a wider rift between northern and southern Europe. Greek resentment of pressure from northern creditors led by Berlin is shared in other parts of the south, where a
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Asian shares rebounded on Friday on signs that euro zone officials will soon approve a long-awaited bailout for Greece, and after jobs and factory data pointed to a healthier U.S. economy. Financial bookmakers expected European stocks to track Asian shares higher, with financial spreadbetters calling the main indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt to open
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. BY PETROS MAVROS The recent agreement between Hermes Airports and Ryan Air to open their fiftieth operational base in Europe has to be looked at as both a blessing and a curse. We can count the blessings as follows: 1. Ryan Air will be committed to invest a substantial amount of money in order
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But confidence in revenue growth ahead of 2009 Nearly half (48%) of the 1,258 CEOs polled worldwide believe the global economy will decline even further in the next 12 months, according to PwC’s 15th Annual Global CEO Survey that was released at Davos last week. Just 15% said the global economy will improve during 2012.
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. European leaders, faced with rising unemployment and growing unrest at home, are trying to shift the debate from fighting the debt crisis to reviving growth in the bloc that produces a sixth of global economic output. One of the proposals is to deploy 82 bln euros of unspent funds from the EU's 2007-2013 budget
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. BY PAVLOS LOIZOU Leaf Research Most Cypriots are only now acknowledging the degree of the problems we face. How they respond to this realisation is another story altogether. Let us think through how a manager should tackle this new “realisation”. I believe that the main issue they need to tackle first is the question
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* Turkey provokes with east Med exercises * Cyprus and Israel discussed future energy cooperation during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, as Turkey warned the island that it risked stoking tension by trying to tap offshore gas. Production in the eastern Mediterranean is set to soar after the discovery of
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Months of swinging between hope and despair over Greece is taking its toll on bond traders at the heart of the euro zone crisis, leaving bank trading teams stuck in an unprofitable funk. "We're sick of Greece and sick of Europe… It's getting very difficult now to try and make money," said one London-based government
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