Greeks warn of disaster- Debt talks break down

It's all going to come to a head very soon- the Greek Government is now warning of a "disaster" and "catastrophic" results if a deal to swap bonds is not reached soon.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/greek-debt-swap-talks-end-141715845.html

I hope everyone is pulling their money out of the market right now- this is not the time to be invested - especially if you have investments in financial, banks, or in any company that does business in Europe or buys european debt securities. If you own mutual funds- chances are that you are exposed to what is about to happen.

Looks to me like this is going to hit the fan very soon.

On top of all the Greek stuff - S&P is just about to downgrade several countries credit rating - including France. This will add additional risk to any stock investments.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysts-view-p-set-downgrade-183808713.html

I was reading somewhere that the banks already dumped alot of the bonds on Hedge funds for 40 cents on the dollar, I guess assuming they (hedge funds) would get 50 cents.

There is also the question of CDS swaps, they won't be honored in a voluntary structured default. Its a real mess for sure. I don't see any way out of it for Greece, they are just buying time.

Not to worry. No matter what, the market will get riled up, the European and US leaders will throw a few soothing words towards the press on this matter and then the markets will swing upward again. Everyone will stick their head back in the sand and Europe will kick this can down the road again.

I'm beginning to think this is a non-issue really...because if it was an issue the wheels would have fallen off of the sham by now. Seriously I think it's being used to manipulate the markets.

France confirms it was just downgraded.

Oui, oui!

Greece's GDP is only 340 Billion. While it will have some effect, it's not as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be.

towermonkey wrote: Greece's GDP is only 340 Billion. While it will have some effect, it's not as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be.

Unless it dominos....

On the plus side for people who love to hate hedge funds like LJ, hedge funds have had a horrible year so far. Seems they had faith in Europe when others were running.

I have been too scared to get back into the market since the meltdown, I did miss some easy gains, but I hope it was smart in the long run.

towermonkey wrote: Greece's GDP is only 340 Billion. While it will have some effect, it's not as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be.

Maybe true if they were an isolated case, but there are plenty more coming soon. Italy is way bigger and maybe more corrupt. 2012 is the year this all unravels in Europe.

More than half the EEC had their debt downgraded yesterday, time to drop out of your international mutuals and find out how much exposure to Europe your domestic stocks have. Meanwhile, Obama just asked to take on a trillion dollars more in debt. Will it be spent bailing out US and European banks again?