Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras today promised that he would submit "credible reform" proposals to his county's creditors on Thursday. There is also an emergency summit meeting scheduled for this Sunday that will involve all 28 European Union members to discuss the new proposals. Although Mr. Tsipras has the support of a majority of the Greek people, several eurozone finance ministers and EU countries are annoyed, if not angry, by his refusal to adopt any austerity measures to keep his country's economy from sinking. If Greece's new proposals continue to reject austerity, Mr. Tsipras may have a tough time getting more financial support for his country.
U.S. stock markets were down heavily today as investors are not only worried about Greece's debt crisis but also about the continuing collapse of the Chinese stock market. The Shanghi Composite Index has dropped about 30% over the last three weeks and the Chinese government is scrambling desperately to control its freely traded markets. This appears to be a classic case of a speculative bubble breaking, and it is exacerbating anxiety in global equity markets already worried about Greece's debt problems and a weak European economy. On top of all this, the New York Stock Exchange today unexpectedly shut down for over three hours during mid-day trading. The explanation given was a "technical glitch", but that didn't stop internet bloggers from coming up with alternative explanations from cyber attack to government intervention to prevent a crash (as in China, albeit more covertly). There is support for the DOW this week at 17,550. That support seemed to hold today's plunge until it broke in the last few minutes of trading. The DOW lost 261 points and closed the day at 17,515. Continuing to hold my short position in the broad stock market.