Good morning everyone. The latest Greek bailout proposal has finally landed. And in it, the new Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos has vowed to reform pensions and increase taxes early next week – agreement or no agreement – calling the move “a first element in a trust-building exercise with our partners.” Roughly translated, this means Greece wants Germany to sign on early before they even begin demanding debt relief – a measure surprisingly absent from their new plan. Let’s see if Merkel bites.
Here’s what else you need to know:
S&P 500, Nikkei 225 futures surge after Greek proposal. On the back of a seemingly conciliatory proposal from Athens, futures on the S&P 500 as well the Nikkei soared at least 0.9%. The Euro also posted 0.2% gains against the Dollar while the currently embattled Aussie added 0.2%. The Yen however, retraced some of its gains, falling 0.3% against the Dollar. Bloomberg
IMF downgrades global growth to its weakest since 2009. Amidst a long list of threats to the global economy, the IMF has downgraded its global growth forecast to 3.3% – its weakest since the height of the financial crisis. With China’s shaky equity market, Greece roiling the Eurozone, and a deceleration in Emerging Markets, “(w)e have entered a period of low growth,” according to IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard. WSJ (paywall)
Cyberattack looks worse that initially thought. Or so it seems anyway. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management confirmed Thursday that 21.5 million people who have undergone background checks since 2000 had their personal information stolen. This is in addition to the 4.2 million federal workers that had their information stolen in a separate incident. China is the lead suspect behind the hacks. Reuters
Photo credit: Moyan Brenn via Flickr