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Today, the IMF chief openly acknowledged both the possibility that Greece will exit the eurozone and just how disruptive such an event could be for European economies.
It wouldn't be surprising if it were to exit in the coming months. An exit was always pretty inevitable unless Germany would have agreed to a lighter sentence for Greece or a higher inflation target for Europe. Still, it's going to be a hassle for the European banking system, which lent Greece all that money, and for American banks that are entwined with European counterparties or have placed bets directly or indirectly tied to the state of Europe's economy -- JPMorgan Chase
Shareholders are continuing to vent their anger at the megabank that was supposed to have unbeatable risk-management systems after it announced a $2 billion loss on a bungled long position that was supposed to "hedge" a previous hedge on corporate creditworthiness but may in reality have been a poorly executed bet on the short-term fundamentals of the economic recovery.
JPMorgan Chase's shares are down 2.2%. Bank of America
Alcoa
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Alcoa all lost to the market today, but let's remember that it's the long term that matters. While there's a pretty good chance we'll see more volatility in the near term as Europe enters a more uncertain stage, these anti-austerity developments could easily increase the chances of long-term success.
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