The Greek stock market, the “Athex,” just suffered its worst single-day crash in history…
MarketWatch reports the index dropped almost 13%
(-12.78%) on Tuesday. The crash was 32% greater than the 9.7% drop it suffered on October 24, 2010… when the European debt crisis was at its peak. Greece was about to default on its public debt at the time. Then it agreed to receive $308 billion in a series of bailouts from the European Central Bank (ECB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other Eurozone countries. The measures toned down the crisis for a time… but the austere bailout conditions enraged the Greek population.
On Tuesday, the Greek government announced it was moving up its presidential elections to December 17. Parliamentary elections will follow in early 2015. The party expected to win is Greece’s far-left “Syriza” party. The group is 100% opposed to the ECB’s austerity bailout conditions. Fear of Greece pulling out of the Eurozone has returned… and many believe a Greek exit could lead to a rapid dissolution of the entire European Union.
Many investors are losing sleep over fear caused by these global macroeconomic events. They’re terrified a 2008-style crash is coming to devastate their portfolios… again. But regular Daily readers won’t fear. That’s because they’ve internalized investing rule No. 1: Learn to manage risk.
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