Greek government votes to implement austerity measures to avoid default amid violent rioting
Greek lawmakers voted in an unpopular package of budget cuts and tax hikes, a key step toward getting the debt-ridden nation cash crucial to keeping the country from default.
Wall Street cheered the decision, and stocks headed higher for a third day in a row. Worries about a potential Greek bankruptcy and the possibility that it could spark an international financial crisis have been weighing on investors' minds for weeks.
"Certainly the fear that Greece is going to default now has subsided," Ken Polcari, managing director of ICAP Equities told Reuters. "Although, it is still not a done deal - but the fact is, it is certainly moving along, so that is obviously positive."
The 155 to 138 vote helped pave the way for cash-strapped Greece to get more of the money from last year's rescue package and clinch a second round of aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
The decision by Greek lawmakers came as police and thousands of demonstrators protesting the austerity measures clashed amid clouds of tear gas outside of the nation's Parliament building.
Greece needs to cover 6.6 billion euros worth of bonds set to mature in August.
Lawmakers there still have to vote again tomorrow on a bill that will allow implementation of the deep cuts and sales of state assets totaling about $112 billion.
Still, U.S. investors latched onto the news, and the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed almost 1%. The VIX, a measure known as Wall Street's "fear gauge," fell 9.2%, its third straight decline.
Like This Post?
Wall Street cheered the decision, and stocks headed higher for a third day in a row. Worries about a potential Greek bankruptcy and the possibility that it could spark an international financial crisis have been weighing on investors' minds for weeks.
"Certainly the fear that Greece is going to default now has subsided," Ken Polcari, managing director of ICAP Equities told Reuters. "Although, it is still not a done deal - but the fact is, it is certainly moving along, so that is obviously positive."
The 155 to 138 vote helped pave the way for cash-strapped Greece to get more of the money from last year's rescue package and clinch a second round of aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
The decision by Greek lawmakers came as police and thousands of demonstrators protesting the austerity measures clashed amid clouds of tear gas outside of the nation's Parliament building.
Greece needs to cover 6.6 billion euros worth of bonds set to mature in August.
Lawmakers there still have to vote again tomorrow on a bill that will allow implementation of the deep cuts and sales of state assets totaling about $112 billion.
Still, U.S. investors latched onto the news, and the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed almost 1%. The VIX, a measure known as Wall Street's "fear gauge," fell 9.2%, its third straight decline.
And Share
Posted by azam
on 3:01 AM.
Filed under
feature,
world news
.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0
