Is Greece About to Implode All Over Again?

Economy

Published: June 21, 2013 9:15 am

Last Updated: June 21, 2013 9:58 am

This week has been a disaster for emerging markets, and now it appears as though Greece is going to come back up as a key spot of financial turmoil. The question is whether anyone will care this time around. High borrowing rates have come after the nation’s asset sales generated far lower capital than expected, and the bailout capital now has a larger gap than when the bailout commitments were made. Now comes news that the coalition government is losing the Democratic Left.

The biggest risk that is always present in Greece’s good graces with the European Union and international monetary watchdogs is how its government is composed. The current coalition is not exactly a normal government that would be dominated by one group or a couple of groups because they joined together in a time of need when normally they would have never been on the same side. Now we have news coming out on the tape that Greece’s Democratic Left is withdrawing from the Greek coalition government. It has reportedly asked its cabinet member and senior officials to resign as well after no agreement was reached over the shutdown of the state broadcasting system.

At 8:45 a.m. EST we looked at the Athens Stock Exchange website and see that the indexes are broadly lower: Composite Index is -3.3%, FTSE/ATHEX Large Cap -3.25%, FTSE/ATHEX GTI -1.8% and ATHEX Mid-Small Cap -1.5%.

Whether this will dissolve parliament is not yet known, but if Greece is pulled into yet another election this soon and the markets have to endure threats from various groups, then all bets could be off. Again, this is a risk to Greece’s financial future, and it always will be. If one voice becomes loud enough that is for change or against change, then the plugs in the cracks can be yanked out all over again.

UPDATED at 9:50 a.m. EST: National Bank of Greece S.A. (NYSE: NBG) ADRs have dropped from the open and are now trading down 4.5% at $4.46. Unfortunately, that would mark a split-adjusted 52-week low, as the adjusted trading range was $4.60 to $32.50 before today. Somehow the Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF (NYSEMKT: GREK) is down only 0.6% at $15.23, although there is more than $0.20 between its bid and ask.

Greece has been the biggest problem nation for the euro and its woes may be back front and center again. At some point the powers that want to keep everything as is may have to just give up and let the chips fall where they may. If the Greeks think that have had problems since joining the euro, unraveling it to go back to the drachma likely will come with an entirely new wave of problems.

Stay tuned.

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