European stocks soar as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says proposals “good basis for progress”

European stock markets had a strong start to the week, as renewed optimism about a deal between Greece and its lenders boosted indices. 

 

The Cac and the Dax were both up 3.1 per cent at pixel time, while the FTSE 100 was up 1.4 per cent. Stocks in Athens were up more than eight per cent. 

 

Another meeting is scheduled to take place this morning between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras and the heads of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund on Monday ahead of a summit of Eurozone leaders later in the day aimed at reaching a deal over debt talks. 

 

 

The chief-of-staff to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Martin Selmayr, gave hope that a deal could be reached, describing latest proposals from Greece as a "good basis for progress". 

 

https://twitter.com/MartinSelmayr/status/612749910803398656

 

EU Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said he was "convinced" agreement will be reached. 

 

There have been reports that the Greek government sent the wrong proposals to the EU, although this has been denied by an official spokesman. 

 

 

Although, given the cynical responses to this, patience does seem to be wearing thin…

 

https://twitter.com/DuncanWeldon/status/612904659238453248

 

Today could certainly be crunch time. There were fears that Greek banks would not open today after it emerged that savers had taken as much as €3bn from their accounts in recent days, prompting fears of a run on the banks.