Thread: How Much to Bail Out Greece? S&P Downgrades Spain

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

How Much is Needed to Bail Out Greece? $159 Billion? $794 Billion? Estimates Vary Wildly as Greece Turns Viral; S&P Downgrades Spain

Pressure is on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to do something. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet is in Berlin along with the IMF to arm-twist Merkel. Meanwhile, German citizens want no part of a Greece bailout.

Trichet in Berlin

Trichet in Berlin as Germans Balk at Greek Rescue http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... YnPQG69WuA

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet is on a diplomatic mission to Berlin as Germany’s reluctance to bail out Greece helps fan a fiscal crisis now burning around the euro region’s periphery.

Trichet and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn will brief German parliamentary leaders in Berlin around noon today about the $60 billion aid package for Greece, which has met with opposition in Europe’s biggest economy. The joint European Union-IMF package would require Germany to stump up the biggest individual loan to Greece.

“It’s a sales pitch in front of an audience that needs it,â€

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Euro Slide Hurts US Multinational Corporation Profits; Roubini Eyes Sovereign Debt Defaults, Inflation

United Technologies Corp., Terex Corp., DuPont Co., McDonald’s Corp. and Johnson & Johnson are all singing the woes of a "strong dollar". Please consider Euro Slide Leaves CEOs Wringing Hands With Forecasts at Risk http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... YW.M&pos=5

United Technologies Corp. finance chief Greg Hayes sets aside some wiggle room in his profit forecast every year for swings in the euro. By March, half his safety net had already evaporated.

The maker of Otis elevators and Pratt & Whitney jet engines, which gets about a quarter of its sales from Europe, started 2010 assuming a $1.48 euro exchange rate. Hayes cut it to $1.37 last month as concern mounted that Greece would default on its debt. This week, the euro dropped below $1.32 for the first time since April 2009.

“It’s one of those things that you can’t control,â€