WASHINGTON D.C. — Forget tech stocks. Greek debt is the story of the week on Wall Street, proving once again that nobody can remember anything more than four years old.
Less than 50 months after Greece crashed out of global debt markets, having brought Europe and its single currency to the brink of destruction and shaken American investment portfolios to the core, the tiny sun-splashed nation was shamelessly back on the world stage Thursday. Greece raised more than $4 billion with a new bond sale, purchased almost entirely by investors outside the country and at a relatively low payback rate of 4.75%. Investors had pledged almost seven times that amount to try to get a piece of the offering, according to Bloomberg News, citing a Greek government official.The search for profit is difficult right now for investors. Interest rates in the U.S. and other major countries remain low following the global financial crisis of 2008 and early 2009. Stocks, especially in tech in the last year, have pushed new highs, at least until the last week. But the rush to buy Greek debt again is a clear sign of the absurdity of the bull market as it begins its sixth year.
Spring is for dreamers. Baseball season begins. In Chicago, Cubs fans are happy. In Silicon Valley, teenagers are fielding offers of billions of dollars for products they haven't built yet. Here in Washington, D.C., the cherry blossoms are blooming, Congress is getting along, kind of, and the International Monetary Fund is staging its spring meeting with a rosy prediction of global growth in the coming year.
