Macro chatter: Could the Grexitement be over?
The leader of Greece’s radical Syriza party, Alexis Tzipras, cheers at rally in Athens, as early results showed him taking an expected second place in the general election. No winner had been officially announced yet, but official projections have the pro-bailout New Democracy party set to gain most seats.
Need to know:
Greek voters went with a pro-bailout party in Sunday’s elections. It may end some of the Grexitement about a Grexit, but the Grelief could be short-lived.
An analyst quoted by the Wall Street Journal put it like this:
“In reality nothing has been resolved by this election other than giving the Greek creditors, the Troika of the IMF, ECB and the European Commission, someone talk to and voice complaints about Greece not living up to its obligations.”
The EU already has been talking about giving Greece a little longer to pay off its loans and meet its deficit targets, but it’s not clear that will be enough. Still fear of financial armageddon was enough to keep anti-bailout leaders out of power in a nation that’s been in a recession for five years.
Want to know:
Facebook managed to get out of one of its big lawsuits for $10 million.
The company has agreed to pay a charity that accused it of violating users’ rights to use their own nams and photos $10 million.
The suit was filed by five Facebook members and accused the social network of violating California law by using their names and likenesses to promote advertisers using its “Sponsored Stories” feature.
Facebook Sponsored Stories are the ones where a friend’s name, photo and the advertiser they like are highlighted in another friend’s feed.
Many more people may have been wishing they’d sued. Reuters said early court documents suggested the suit could win billions of dollars for privacy violations impacting nearly one in three Americans.
Dull but important:
Ruh-roh. The euro zone has funded so many bailouts that its bailout fund is now running low on cash.
Europe’s big bailout fund now holds about $317 billion, which according to the Institute of International Finance means it could rescue a Cyprus but not a Spain.
The group is pushing for the euro zone to adopt a banking union that would spread the cost of supporting the continents weakest banks, the Wall Street Journal said.
Just because:
Ratings downgrades aren't just for Europe.
India could find itself being downgraded within the next year or two, CNBC's Indian network reported. Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook for the country to negative meaning a ratings downgrade could be in the emerging market giant's future.
India's economy has been cooling off, and Fitch said the country's government hasn't been able to make it a more attractive place for investors. That's choking off the country's potential.
Strange but true:
Unemployment may be a problem pretty much everywhere else, but more people are working in Oklahoma than ever before.
The latest data shows the state had a record 1.7 million people employed in May. Oklahoma’s unemployment rate also fell below 5 percent, which is already far lower than the US average.