The Wall Street Journal reports, Just over 80% of Greece’s private-sector creditors had agreed by a Thursday evening deadline, to turn in their bonds for new ones, with less than half the face value, touching off a massive debt swap, that marks a seminal moment in Europe’s long-frustrated efforts, to rescue its most financially vulnerable nation. The Greek government announced the results of its proposed restructuring early this morning. The announcement, that the restructuring will go ahead, precipitates the largest-ever sovereign-debt default, and the first for a Western European country, in half a century.
The Wall Street Journal also reports, job growth in the US continues to improve. U.S. job creation remained solid in February and was stronger in previous months than initially thought, marking one of the economy’s best stretches of the nearly three-year-old recovery. Jobs outside of agriculture grew by 227,000 last month and employers added 284,000 jobs in January—roughly 40,000 higher than an initial estimate. Overall, the economy has added an average 245,000 jobs over the past three months—more than double the pace of job creation between May and November. The unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households, remained at 8.3%, as both hiring and the number of job seekers increased.
Bloomberg reports, the London Stock Exchange rallied the most, in more than eight months, after agreeing to buy a majority stake in LCH Clearnet Group Limited, for 463 million euros, to expand its post-trade services. Shares in the owner of Europe’s oldest independent bourse, climbed 8.9 percent to 977.5 pence at 12:08 p.m. in London trading, the biggest increase since June 30th, valuing the exchange at 2.65 billion pounds.
Finally, the Financial Times reports, Bank of America will provide deeper-than-anticipated principal reductions, for about 200,000 homeowners, under newly-disclosed terms of last month’s foreclosure settlement, with state and federal authorities. The cuts for homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth could total more than $100,000 each, under the deal with the government. Bank of America hopes it will be able to reduce what it owes in penalties, under the settlement, by up to 850 million dollars.
The Wall Street Journal reports, Just over 80% of Greece’s private-sector creditors had agreed by a Thursday evening deadline, to turn in their bonds for new ones, with less than half the face value, touching off a massive debt swap, that marks a seminal moment in Europe’s long-frustrated efforts, to rescue its most financially vulnerable nation. The Greek government announced the results of its proposed restructuring early this morning. The announcement, that the restructuring will go ahead, precipitates the largest-ever sovereign-debt default, and the first for a Western European country, in half a century.
The Wall Street Journal also reports, job growth in the US continues to improve. U.S. job creation remained solid in February and was stronger in previous months than initially thought, marking one of the economy’s best stretches of the nearly three-year-old recovery. Jobs outside of agriculture grew by 227,000 last month and employers added 284,000 jobs in January—roughly 40,000 higher than an initial estimate. Overall, the economy has added an average 245,000 jobs over the past three months—more than double the pace of job creation between May and November. The unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households, remained at 8.3%, as both hiring and the number of job seekers increased.
Bloomberg reports, the London Stock Exchange rallied the most, in more than eight months, after agreeing to buy a majority stake in LCH Clearnet Group Limited, for 463 million euros, to expand its post-trade services. Shares in the owner of Europe’s oldest independent bourse, climbed 8.9 percent to 977.5 pence at 12:08 p.m. in London trading, the biggest increase since June 30th, valuing the exchange at 2.65 billion pounds.
Finally, the Financial Times reports, Bank of America will provide deeper-than-anticipated principal reductions, for about 200,000 homeowners, under newly-disclosed terms of last month’s foreclosure settlement, with state and federal authorities. The cuts for homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth could total more than $100,000 each, under the deal with the government. Bank of America hopes it will be able to reduce what it owes in penalties, under the settlement, by up to 850 million dollars.