Late night media is abuzz with two reports, one from the NYT and one from The Telegraph, which unfortunately confirm Credit Suisse's decision to ignore the Greek situation entirely due to openly contradictory news.
- From The Telegraph: Greece prepares to give way to banks to secure debt deal [8]
- From The NYT: Greek Premier Says Creditors May Be Forced to Take Losses [9]
Which, of course, is the oldest trick in the book - when in doubt, leak opposing news, in this case whether or note the Greek default will be coercive or not, in hopes the good news trumps the bad, and nobody notices.
Here are some extracts from either:
Sources close to the bondholders told The Daily Telegraph there was "enough movement" from officials representing Greece, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Union (EU) to persuade Mr Dallara to meet with them.
Bondholders are resisting pressure to take losses of more than 50pc on their bonds. They are also pushing for higher coupons on fresh Greek paper.
The IIF, which has been representing private sector bondholders during the tortuous talks, said it was committed to "seeking an agreement on a voluntary debt exchange for Greece" and appealed to officials to "work in good faith toward this end with a sense of urgency".
And the other.
Taking direct aim at hedge funds and other private holders of Greece’s debt, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos says he will consider legislation forcing the creditors to take losses on their holdings if no agreement can be reached in critical negotiations scheduled to resume Wednesday.
Mr. Papademos said that if Greece did not receive 100 percent participation in a program in which bondholders would voluntarily write down $130 billion from Greece’s unwieldy $450 billion debt, the country would consider passing a law to require holdouts to take losses.
“It is something that has to be considered in the light of expectations about the degree of the participation to be achieved,” Mr. Papademos said. “It cannot be excluded. It is contingent on the percentage.”
At this point we would settle for both being true and this whole politically coordinated farce just ending so real investing can actually resume.