Greece Bans Short-Selling

Greece has imposed a blanket ban on short-selling of stocks listed on the Athens Exchange. The ban will initially be effective for the next two months. According to The Hellenic Capital Market Commission the ban has been enforced “after taking into account the conditions prevailing in the Greek Market.” Earlier this week, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greek debt to Junk status.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is scheduled to hold a press conference later today. According to MarketWatch, the press conference will also be attended by the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-kahn. Meanwhile, the spread of five-year Greek credit-default swaps expanded to 87.5 points.