Greek relief rally fades as euro zone stocks slip

July 23, 2015 Euro zone shares opened slightly higher before slipping on July 17, with a recent Greece-driven relief rally showing signs of fading from the previous session.

Renewed hopes for a Greek deal and more European Central Bank help for Greek lenders had fuelled the previous session, with the German Dax dipping slightly ahead of a parliamentary debate in Berlin to approve a government request to open talks on a new three-year bailout programme for Greece.

German lawmakers are expected to give Berlin a clear green light to start negotiations, after the request passed successfully through the Greek parliament, and European equities overall are set for their best week since January. Fidel Helmer, an analyst at Hauck & Aufhaeuser has more insight.

“The DAX started almost unchanged, we have a very friendly week behind us and you can presume that during the day today it will get calmer, so one person or another will be able to take some strategic wins from this week,”

“The help for Greece is certainly the right thing to do, because it is funds which will help the economy survive. Above all for the people of Greece, for whom it will be better if the banks open again. And to do this there is a short bridging-loan from the ECB (European Central Bank) for 900 million, and so with this the banks in Greece should probably be open on Monday.”

German lawmakers are expected to give the government their clear backing to begin negotiations on the bailout, although Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble doubts its success.

Helmer also spoke of the difficulties faced by Deutsche Bank as the German regulator BaFin joined others in criticizing the bank’s supervisory body.

“The Deutsche bank has cases filed against it in America, that is nothing new, but today the BaFin has also spoken out and criticized the Board of Executives of the Deutsche Bank, because they didn’t follow up on their duty of supervision and investigation.”

The New York State Department of Financial Services has asked Deutsche Bank for detailed info on possible money-laundering transactions by some of its clients in Russia possibly exceeding $6 billion in total, according to a close source on the matter.