Greece’s financial problems have dominated headlines in the past week. Here, e.g., are some excerpts from The Wall Street Journal:
Saturday 20 June. “U.S. stocks ended lower Friday… worries over Greece sent investors piling into ultrasafe Treasury bonds….”
Tuesday 23 June. “U.S. stocks advanced Monday…lifted by gains in health-care and financial shares as well as optimism that Greece will eventually reach a bailout deal with its creditors.”
Wednesday 24 June. “…stocks climb[ed]as Greece moved closer to a bailout deal with creditors.”
Today 25 June. “U.S. stocks ended lower Wednesday, with the Dow Industrials posting their biggest one-day decline in nearly a month, as recent optimism about a bailout deal for Greece faded.”
Cynicism, of course, was invented in Greece, and today a cynic might wonder if headline writers were using Greece as a catch-all explanation for whatever had happened the day before. Regardless of tomorrow’s news, we should keep three things in mind: