US markets were up again slightly today, so what else is new? You can’t fill one hand counting the number of down days so far in 2012. No one is complaining of course. I’d like ten more months of what we’ve had so far in January and February, please.
Gold and bonds were slightly lower today and world markets were mixed and none were up or down even 1%.
The Greek tragedy plods on. Who wrote this play? It seems Greeks and their private creditors are closer to a short-term resolution, but again what else is new? Politicians agreed to strict austerity measures but the unions didn’t and so union workers (over 50% of Greeks belong to unions) are on strike again.
Oddly, in the new agreement pensions would be cut by 15% but the strange Greek practice of paying the huge number of government workers for 13 or 14 months instead of 12 months, known as the Christmas bonus stays in place. Good grief. The Germans are understandbly tired of throwing money at this kind of idiocy.