European Central Bank

Update: As expected, the Greek parliament has voted in favor of the referendum announced Saturday by PM Alexis Tsipras. 

If there was any confusion if, as we warned was the biggest problem with the Greek referendum namely that next weekend there will no longer be a proposal to vote on, the IMF's Christine Lagarde just put it to rest. As she told the BBC moments ago, the Greek government's planned referendum on the terms of any new bailout plan will be invalid after Tuesday, when the current programme expires. As a result, the Greek people would be voting on proposals that were no longer in place.

Presented with little comment aside to ask if someone is off-script?

NOONAN: THE CRISIS HAS COMMENCED
SCHAEUBLE SAYS `HELLISH DIFFICULT TASK' ON GREECE
NOONAN: I HAVE SYMPATHY FOR THE GREEK PEOPLE

But always remember, "Greece doesn't matter," which as Mohamed El-Erian explains, is somewhat true, since European leaders have two other existential issues to contend with also...

While the path ahead suddenly just got very confusing for both Greece and Europe, one thing is clear: going forward the Greeks will only have themselves to blame for whatever the final outcome is. That, and the Greek trargicomedy which has now lasted for over 5 years, may finally be over.

Given the self-admitted lack of 'rules' around emergency funding from The ECB, today's (latest) threats to withhold Greek funding "due to politicial events" are perhaps the most ominous non-blackmail warning yet by the entirely independent Mario Draghi and his henchmen...

Following meetings with EU officials and then with IMF chief Christine Lagarde and ECB chief Mario Draghi on Wednesday evening, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is back at it on Thursday, in a frantic attempt to salvage a deal with creditors. He'll need to win over EU finance chiefs (who are collectively losing their will to keep Greece in the currency bloc) and the IMF as the EU summit kicks off in Brussels.

The renewed optimism that's surrounded Greek debt negotiations since Monday evening evaporated like deposits on a hot summer day in Athens this morning as the IMF has indicated it will stick to its "red lines" on pension cuts and the VAT, meaning PM Alexis Tsipras will either surrender unconditionally or embrace an EMU exit.

Who could have possibly foreseen that the IMF would throw up all over the Greek "proposal"... aside from this post here "Why The IMF Will Reject The Latest Greek Proposal In Just Two Numbers" yesterday afternoon of course. In any event, moments ago Bloomberg reported that just as we wrote here yesterday afternoon, there is no deal and that Greek PM Alexis Tsipras told his associates that creditors not accepting equivalent fiscal measures has never happened before, according to a Greek govt official, who asked not to be named in line with policy. Creditors “not accepting parametric measures has never happened before. Neither in Ireland, nor in Portugal, nor anywhere. This strange stance can hide two scenarios; they either don’t want an agreement or serve specific interests in Greece.”

Under pressure from all sides (and most importantly from Mario Draghi who holds the fate of the Greek banking sector in his hands) Greece looks to have folded and is now set to accept an extension of its current bailout program. PM Alexis Tsipras now faces an uphill battle to unite Syriza around what is likely to be an unpopular agreement. If he fails, the country could plunge into political and social turmoil. 

When systems are broke and broken, collapse is the only way forward.

"I was appalled to hear of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's decision last week to demote Alexander Hamilton from his featured position on the ten dollar bill... a better solution is available: Replace Andrew Jackson, a man of many unattractive qualities and a poor president, on the twenty dollar bill. Given his views on central banking, Jackson would probably be fine with having his image dropped from a Federal Reserve note."

Early hope began to fade as nothing appeared to be settled... and then The BBC unleahed the ultimate "Greece is rescued" quote from an EU Minister. Bond risk is now collapsing (PORTUG -55bps!) as Bunds & TSYs are dumped, Greek stocks are up 9%, and all European Bourses are surging as even EURUSD is rallying (breaking its earlier correlation)...

While we have seen countless such reports in recent weeks and months, and take each and every one with a mine of salt, the reason ES algos just took out overnight highs was due to a BBC interview - which will be broadcast "shortly" - in which BBC economic editor Robert Peston was told by the Greek economic minister George Stathakis that "he believes Greece's new proposals to balance the government's books have broken the deadlock with its creditors." He said he expects eurozone government heads to issue a communique later today that will say there is now a basis for a formal agreement with Athens to complete the current bailout programme and release €7.2bn of vital funds.

"The net effect of all that will be the disappearance of nominal wealth — it crosses an event horizon into a black hole never to be seen again. The continent discovers it is a lot poorer than it thought. Fifty years of financial engineering comes to the grief it deserves for promoting the idea that it’s possible to get something for nothing."

• Mood brightens after latest Greek offer to creditors (Reuters)
• ECB's Nowotny - Greek banks have funding extension for today (Reuters)
• Any Greece deal must match party manifesto, minister says (Reuters)
• Greece says now up to lenders to move on an agreement (Reuters)
• Greece sends wrong documents to monitors... Again (FT)
• U.S. won't let Russia 'drag us back to the past': Pentagon chief (Reuters)
• Belgium unblocks part of Russian diplomatic missions’ frozen accounts (Tass)
• Fed Scoop Heralded Era of Closed Doors for $100,000 Newsletters (BBG)