Europe calms despite failed deal talks

European markets displayed an altogether calmer mood on Friday June 19th, as panic dispersed despite the failure to reach an agreement at yesterday’s Eurogroup meeting. Meanwhile, the euro edged lower but remained on course to end the week higher.

Germany’s DAX was more than one per cent higher, the French CAC 40 gained nearly 1.2 per cent and the Euro Stoxx 50 index climbed around 1.1 per cent. Meanwhile, the UK’s FTSE-100 was over 0.6 per cent in positive territory.

EUR/GBP tumbled to a three-week low and EUR/USD was more than 0.4 per cent down on the day. Despite Friday’s losses against the Greenback, the euro was on track for its third consecutive week of gains, as “nobody in FX cares about Greece”, according to Commerzbank strategists.

The Greek debt crisis continued to be the paramount story in Europe, as Thursday’s meeting of European finance ministers failed to produce an agreement. 

However, on Friday, another meeting was scheduled for Monday, alleviating fears that a deal will never be reached. Following the news, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras further boosted positive sentiment when he declared in a statement that Greece will find a path to staying in the eurozone.

“Τhe [eurozone] leaders summit on Monday is a positive development on the road toward a deal. All those who are betting on crisis and terror scenarios will be proven wrong,” he said.

“There will be a solution based on respecting European Union rules and democracy which would allow Greece to return to growth in the euro.”

However, utterings from UK chancellor George Osborne were less than optimistic, as he said that Britain has “taken measures” to boost economic security from risks overseas. 

“We have entered the eleventh hour of this Greek crisis and we urge the Greek government to do a deal before it is too late,” he said. “We hope for the best, but we now must be prepared for the worst.”