Greece items of the day so far - the last chance talks are over - new elections appear on tap , the 430 million bond due to the holdouts will be paid in full ( for those suckers who took the swap , sold to you. )

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/risk-greek-chaos-returns

Risk Off As Greek Chaos Returns

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/15/2012 09:19 -0400

• Bond
 
• Greece
 
• Gross Domestic Product
 
• Italy
• Portugal

With the Greeks unable to hug it out and new elections (as per Venizelos and Kammenos) all but guaranteed, the probability that Greece will exit just went to 11 on the dial. Markets hiccupped and plunged, giving up all the German GDP gains and then some. EURUSD traded back below 1.2800 - trading 1.2780 as we post,S&P 500 e-mini futures dumped 13 points now below yesterday's lows, Europe's DAX took a dive, and all European sovereign bond spreads tore higher dominated by Portugal, Spain, and Italy (+38-48bps on the week now). Credit spreads are gapping wider in Europe and the US.

EURUSD Plunge...

and ES is making new cycle lows...

and Sovereign spreads surging...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/here-come-greek-reelections

Here Come The Greek (Re)Elections

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/15/2012 09:00 -0400

• Creditors

Wonder why the EURUSD is suddenly sliding? Here's why:

• GREEK ANTI-BAILOUT CONSERVATIVE KAMMENOS SAYS THERE IS NO DEAL ON GOVERNMENT -BBG
• KAMMENOS SAYS "THEY PREFER CREDITORS TO NATIONAL SOLUTION"
• KAMMENOS SAYS NEW ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD

Which means Syriza will win the June re-elections, likely with a strong majority, and what happens then is anyone's guess.

and from Athens News.....

4.03pm After almost an hour and a half, it looks like another dead end. Kammenos stated that "they chose our creditors over a national solution", while Kouvelis in a quick fire statement to the press while exiting, said that there would be no more talks. Initial reports say that all parties insisted on Syriza and the Democratic Left be part of personalities government. With talks breaking down, it seems definite that we are heading for repeat elections, with an interim government appointed until the ballot date. 

 Key discussion from the Guardian liveblog - key points includes discussion of letter attributed to Independent Greeks leader  totally shot down and idea of government of personalities and technocrats ....

9.45am: Today's talks over the formation of a 'technocratic government' in Greece appear doomed to fail, even before they begin.

From Athens, our correspondent Helena Smith reports that Greece's feuding party chiefs are trading blows, in a sign that the political paralysis is not easing. Helena writes:

In a new twist to the escalating drama engulfing Athens, political party leaders are back at it again: firing salvos of venom at each other and, above all, pouring cold water on the latest possible exit route out of the crisis by forming a government of "personalities."

The technocrat solution was tantamount to "the defeat of politics," said Fotis Kouvellis who heads the small Democrat Left party.

"I told the President ... that a government formed by technocrats and personalities means the defeat of politics. I expressed that I am against it."

Greece's head of state Carolos Papoulias was reported this morning as telling leaders that their differences where "insignificant" compared with their "duty towards the country."

The president, who proposed that personalities man a new government in what is being seen as the VERY LAST attempt to plug Greece's power vacuum, meets political leaders at 2 PM local time (noon GMT). With the exception of Aleka Papariga, the communist party chief and Nikos Michaloliakos, who heads the neo-fascist Chyrsi Avgi party, the heads of every single party catapulted into parliament in the inconclusive May 6 elections will be there including Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras who refused to attend yesterday's talks.But the president's pleas appear to have had no impact.

Hopes of a solution being reached with the help of Panos Kammenos, a former conservative MP who now heads the vehemently anti-austerity breakaway Independent Greeks party were also dashed today. With 33 seats in the 300-member parliament, Kammenos, in effect, could have held the key to a solution. Cooperation with the centre right New Democracy and centre left Socialist Pasok would have given the new 'national unity' government a comfortable 182 seats in the House.

But this morning Kammenos, a blustering right-wing populist, said he would not attend a separate one-hour meeting with Papoulias prior to the talks following the "provocative" distribution of a highly sensitive document attributed to his party. The paper, which had been circulated by the presidential office to party leaders, said Independent Greeks would support a unity government if it were a matter of "national urgency." Independent Greeks, which has described the EU-IMF imposed austerity and structural reform program as a form of "foreign occupation" reportedly also said it would accept to participate in such a coalition if given the portfolio of the defense ministry.

Speaking to Skai radio this morning, Kammenos said: "This document is not mine, it has never been submitted by Independent Greeks, it is not stamped, nor does it have a protocol number. I did not give it to the president.

With Greece's euro zone member ship on the line and the stakes so high, the infighting has left many aghast. "I really don't see how there is any way out apart from going to fresh elections," Nikos Evangelatos, a veteran observer of the political scene, told a local radio station. "At least elections will give everyone [the parties] the chance to air their views."

and.....

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/55507

12.15pm The press has had a field day with the letter reportedly sent by Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos to President Karolos Papoulias saying that in the event of an immediate national emergency, he could support a coalition government, writes political correspondent George Gilson in today's Press Watch.

10.55am The government will pay holders of a 430m euro bond that matures today, a government official has said. "The bond will be paid," the official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters. The remaining amount of the bond had not been exchanged under a debt swap the country completed in March. 

What's been happening? After a meeting with three leaders last on Monday, the president has called a meeting at 2pm of all party leaders - with the exception of the Golden Dawn head - to discuss the formation of a government that could include non-elected prominent personalities, terminology that could mean technocrats. 

Since that announcement last night, leaders have made some important announcements that do not auger well for a breakthrough today:

• The Communist Party (KKE) has said that its leader, Aleka Papariga, will not attend the meeting. The KKE is opposed to all coalition scenarios. A party statement said: "The KKE's position, which was also expressed during the meeting with the president and is contained in the minutes of the discussion, is against the formation of a government of personalities, regardless of the name that it will take. Therefore, Aleka Papariga would not contribute to such a discussion where the preconditions and the composition of this government are determined."
• Antonis Samaras of New Democracy said that the possibility of forming a government composed of political figures should be examined first and then a government of technocrats, but in emergency situations "such as today's one should also examine emergency solutions."
• The president's plan for a government of non-partisan experts has been described by the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) as nothing but a scheme to impose the harsh wage and pension cuts demanded by the troika but rejected by voters. "We will attend the meeting. But we are sticking to our position. We don't want to consent to any kind of bailout policies, even if they are implemented by non-political personalities," Syriza spokesman Panos Skourletis said.
• Pasok's Evangelos Venizelos said: "It's not normal to have a government by technocrats or personalities but when you are in such a crisis, in such a dead end, we have to accept this as well ... Things are very difficult. I'm not optimistic."
• Fotis Kouvelis of the Democratic Left said: "I told the president that a government by technocrats or personalities would suggest the failure of politics, and raised my objection."