What's Critical Today in the Financial World (11/3/2011) Greece Falls Apart, Syms Chapter 11

Will Greece be kicked out of Eurozone? Greece is on the brink of expulsion from the eurozone. That would cause an immediate default of the nation’s sovereign debt, as well as trigger a series of events that could, among other things, render some of the region’s banks insolvent. The 8 billion euros loan that that was to be extended to Greece this week has been suspended. A fight between Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos over how the country should act to remain solvent has made matters worse. Papandreou may have lost his majority in the parliament. The collapse of Greece that has been feared for months many finally be about to happen.

Job losses at major banks continue. On the heel of layoffs by Nomura (NYSE: NMR) and Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS), Dutch banking and insurance firm ING (NYSE: ING) said it would fire 2,700 people. Among the primary causes for the action was a 467 million euro charge for its Greek debt holdings. Many more financial firms in the region have similar exposure. The downsizing of the industry in the region is not over.

Fed unemployment forecast increased. The Federal Reserve increased its three-year forecasts for unemployment and dropped its forecasts for GDP growth. The markets did not react to the news. They should have. Many economists assume that the central bank will use monetary policy to help the economy if it stumbles — a program that many call QE3. The problem is that interest rates are already near zero. It will be hard to do much more to help the economy beyond offering what is practically interest-free money.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) announced reasonably strong earnings. The media firm’s pillar of strength continues to be its cable operations, particularly Fox News. The creation of the network was a stroke of genius. It has more than offset revenue problems at the company’s other divisions — particularly the newspapers. The Murdochs may be under siege because of the London wiretapping scandal, but as long as Fox News remains popular with viewers, the company’s earnings should be protected.

Parent company of Filene’s Baseement files for bankruptcy. The weak retail economy took another victim. Discount retailer Syms Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMS) and its Filene’s Basement division filed for bankruptcy. The firm could not even come up with the capital to see if holiday sales could save it.  Syms Corp. is so badly battered that all of its stores will be closed.

Douglas A. McIntyre