Monster Recovery for National Bank of Greece (NBG, EWP, EWI)

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is not just up this Tuesday.  It is up huge on a day where most investors would have assumed it would have been down.  While many Euro-nation stocks were lower, the ADRs for the National Bank of Greece are up almost an unbelievable 20% at $2.62 against an adjusted 52-week trading range of $1.64 to $9.05 so far this morning in New York trading.

The reports are out that Greece paid much lower rates for 6-month treasury bills where it raised about 1.3 billion Euro at a rate of only 4.55%.  When you consider that Spain’s borrowing rates have hit a high since December, this is a standout.  Greece paid closer to 5% about one month ago.

Spain’s IBEX 35 was down almost 2% earlier today while the iShares MSCI Spain Index (NYSE: EWP) was challenging 52-week lows but is now down only 0.2% at $26.93.  The iShares MSCI Italy Index (NYSE: EWI) has recovered from its lows and is down 0.7% at $11.89.

JON C. OGG