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But a leading member of Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats, Armin Laschet, said the question of whether Greece stayed in the euro zone carried wider implications beyond the purely economic assessment being prepared by the troika.

"(An exit) could lead to instability in a NATO member state. Russia is standing ready with billions to help Greece in such a scenario... Much more is at stake here than just the question of whether Greece meets the criteria (of its bailout)," he told Reuters in comments authorised for publication on Saturday.

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(Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced support for Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann on Sunday, saying she welcomed his warnings about the handling of the euro zone debt crisis and saw his influence within the European Central Bank as positive.

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Even as Greece desperately tries to avoid defaulting on its debt, U.S. companies are preparing for what was once unthinkable: that Greece will soon be forced to leave the eurozone.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has looked into filling trucks with cash and sending them over the Greek border so clients can continue to pay local employees and suppliers in the event money is unavailable. Ford has configured its computer systems so they will be able to immediately handle a new Greek currency.

No one knows just how broad the shock waves from a Greek exit would be, but big U.S. banks and consulting firms have also been doing a brisk business advising their corporate clients on how to prepare for a splintering of the eurozone. That is a striking contrast to the assurances from European politicians that the crisis is manageable and that the currency union can be held together. On Thursday, the European Central Bank will consider measures that would ease pressure on Europe's cash-starved countries.

JPMorgan Chase, though, is taking no chances. It has already created new accounts for a handful of U.S. giants that are reserved for a new drachma in Greece or whatever currency might succeed the euro in other countries.

In a survey this summer, the firm found that 80 percent of clients polled expected Greece to leave the eurozone, and a fifth of those expected more countries to follow....

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CME Daily Trading Volume Slumps In August From Year Ago
http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=16....
5 September 2012

Daily volume at the world's largest futures market operator averaged 10.3 million contracts last month, down 40% from an all-time record in August 2011 that was driven by high market turbulence that month, and down slightly from July...

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Daily volume for interest rate futures, the company's largest product by that metric, averaged 4.7 million contracts in August, down 41% from a year earlier yet up 21% from July.

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Equity index volume averaged two million contracts a day last month, a 58% decline from a year earlier and 20% fall from July's levels.

Rival exchange operator IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE), meanwhile, said its daily volume averaged 1.3 million contracts last month, down 18% from a year earlier and 12% from July.

Daily volume in its largest product, Brent Crude futures and options, jumped 8.2% from August 2011 but fell 11.3% from July. Gasoil futures and options showed a 19.8% and 14% decrease, respectively.

Class A shares of CME closed Tuesday at $55.31 and were inactive premarket. Shares of ICE were also inactive from a Tuesday close of $136.58. ..

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"Of course it's not common to see judges protesting but we were obliged to gather today to express our opposition to the planned new cuts," Vassiliki Thanou-Christofilou, head of the Association of Judges and Public Prosecutors, told the AP as about 200 people — including senior judges — took part in the protest.

"The cuts are likely to be 20 percent or more, on top of previous reductions worth 38 percent of our salaries. So the pay levels will no longer safeguard the court officials' ability to live in a dignified way."

Police, Fire Service and Coast Guard associations are planning a protest in central Athens with officers in uniform on Thursday. Earlier this week, pharmacists and doctors stopped extending credit to the state EOPPY health fund, with whom more than 9 in 11 Greeks are insured. As a result, people registered with EOPPY have to pay the full price of medicine and health services.

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http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=16....
Thursday, 6 September 2012

LONDON--Greece's unemployment rate hit a record in June as the country struggles through a fifth year of economic recession.

The rate rose to 24.4% from 23.5% in May, the national statistics agency Elstat said Thursday. It was 17.2% a year earlier....

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http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=16....
Friday, 7 September 2012

Greece scrapped on Thursday a law obliging the state to keep a minimum stake in a string of public companies, such as the countrys top electricity producer Public Power and gambling firms OPAP.

According to Reuters, this removes one of several bureaucratic obstacles to the countrys much-delayed asset sale program — a key condition for its international bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (explain this)....

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Fitch revises 4 Greek covered bond ratings after rating scale change
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/0....

Sept 7 - Fitch Ratings has revised the ratings of four Greek covered bond
programmes following the addition of 'CCC+' and 'CCC-' debt instrument ratings
to the agency's rating scale (see "Fitch Updates Ratings Definitions" dated 10
August 2012 at www.fitchratings.com). The programmes have also been removed from
Rating Watch Negative...

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The rating revisions are as follows:

Alpha Bank : revised to 'CCC+'/'RR3' from 'B-'/RWN

Eurobank: revised to 'CCC+'/'RR3' from 'B-'/RWN

National Bank of Greece (Programme II): revised to 'CCC+'/'RR3' from 'B-'/RWN

Piraeus Bank : revised to 'CCC+'/'RR3' from 'B-'/RWN

National Bank of Greece's Programme I is rated 'B-'/RWN and remains unaffected by the addition of 'CCC+' and 'CCC-' debt instrument ratings to Fitch's rating scale.