A Quick Word on Latest Developments in Greece

Apparently, German Finance Minister Schaeuble tried to attach the authorization for the Greek backstop facility. However, this path reportedly was blocked and his fall back plan is for a parliamentary meeting on Monday. This would seem to lend support to ideas that the IMF's part of the facility may be exercised first. Still Greece theoretically does not need the funds until closer to mid May.

The Greek 10-year bond yield remains above 8% and while this is well off yesterday's panic extreme levels, it still reflects a high degree of anxiety and we note the other peripheral bond markets have not shown nearly as much a recovery from yesterday's slide. For example, Portuguese 10-year yields are off a single basis point and Spain's yield is up 3 bp. This is leaving the foreign exchange market choppy and thus far inconclusive. We too are not sure that this is sufficient closure.