See what we did there? Spain and Italy tied 1-1 yesterday on the third day of the European Championships, the soccer tournament that will provide backdrop to the region’s unfolding financial melodrama. (Seriously, who’s going to chart market reaction to Greek goals?) Anyway, the score was fitting, as the two nation’s creditworthiness appears to be linked for the foreseeable future. Per Bloomberg:
There may be little Italy can do on its own to protect itself. Prime Minister Mario Monti, appointed by the president to succeed Silvio Berlusconi in November when Italy’s 10-year yield exceeded 7 percent, has implemented 20 billion euros of austerity measures, overhauled the pensions system and revamped the county’s labor markets and service industries.
Monti’s efforts helped shave more than 200 basis points off the 10-year yield by February, before the turmoil in Greece and Spain’s banking woes began driving up rates.
Meanwhile, the Greece crisis continues its slow crawl to completion, and appears likely to dampen Wall Street’s second-quarter revenue for a third consecutive year, making job cuts and reduced pay all the more likely. Again, Bloomberg:
Greece is prompting declines as banks face questions about whether they’re experiencing a so-called secular, or lasting, shift in their capital-markets businesses amid new regulations and slower global growth. The industry will see little-to-no growth in the total revenue pool over the next few years and needs to cut 20 percent to 30 percent of its managers, Boston Consulting Group Inc. said in an April 26 report.
It probably only gets worse from here, as markets responded coolly to news of a Spanish bailout this weekend, seen by many as little more than a temporary fix. Meanwhile, the Greek elections are nearing, with all hell liable to loosen on the results. To which we’d say, you know, enjoy the soccer.
