Stocks hit as greece scrambles to convince

Stocks have taken a hammering as Greece struggles to convince international creditors that it can meet its obligations in return for more bailout cash that it needs to avoid running out of cash as soon as next month.

With the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou canceling a trip to the United States and the Greek cabinet meeting to come with fresh austerity measures, investors remain concerned that the country will not get its hands on the €8 billion due from last year's €110 billion bailout. Last Friday, eurozone finance ministers in Poland decided to delay authorizing the payout until early October. At risk are not only the installment from the 2010 rescue package but also a second bailout worth €109 billion.

"The news from the weekend meeting in Poland, with the attendance of U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner, did not help market sentiment and only underscored the great divide amid the powers that be," said Sue Trinh, a senior analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

Greece's finance minister Evangelos Venizelos is due to host a teleconference later with representatives of the country's international creditors, the so-called troika — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. His task is to convince them that Greece is doing enough to warrant the release of the next batch of bailout cash.  

Source: The Independent