Stocks muted ahead of emergency meeting on Greek debt
Source: AP-Excite
By YOUKYUNG LEE
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Global stocks were muted Wednesday as investors turned their focus to an emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers that will discuss Greece's appeal for more generous bailout conditions.
KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 fell 0.4 percent to 4,675.42 and Germany's DAX edged down 0.2 percent to 10,737.80. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent to 6,799.73. Futures augured a weak start for Wall Street. S&P 500 and Dow futures were both down 0.2 percent.
GREEK DRAMA: Finance ministers from euro nations are holding an emergency meeting in Brussels on Greece later Wednesday, which will be the group's first opportunity to hear directly from the new government. Greece wants to renegotiate the terms of its international bailout that has imposed years of punishing austerity on the country; the current agreement expires in late February. Speculation that Greece could be granted extra time to hold new negotiations buoyed markets Tuesday. On Wednesday, however, there was somewhat less optimism — the Athens index was down over 3 percent.
THE QUOTE: "The headlines out of this meeting will dictate the price action for global markets," Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG, said in a commentary. "At the moment, it seems European leaders and Greece are willing to meet each other in the middle and this has comforted investors' concerns after the aggressive tone by Greek Prime Minister Tsipras over the weekend."
FULL story at link.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras looks on during a joint news briefing with Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Secretary General Jose Angel Gurria, after their meeting in Athens on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. Gurria met officials from Greece's new left-wing government who are seeking assistance in overhauling cost-cutting reforms imposed as part of an international bailout. Eurozone ministers are meeting Wednesday to discuss Greece's debt problem and efforts by Athens to restructure that debt. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
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