by Calculated Risk on 2/12/2012 10:48:00 PM

From the Financial Times Alphaville: One Greek hurdle down, but more ahead

[F]rom the WSJ — here’s something we suspect ... won’t be viewed favourably by the EU and IMF:

But in a sign of the intense public pressure facing Greek politicians, Antonis Samaras, leader of New Democracy and likely the next prime minister, said the measures should be renegotiated after national elections expected in April. ...

Euro-zone finance ministers will meet on Wednesday in Brussels to sign off on the deal. Their expected approval will trigger an offer to private-sector holders of Greek government bonds, who will be asked to exchange their existing bonds for new bonds with half the face value.

The Euro rallied slightly on news of the vote, but as Reuters reported earlier in the day, there is much work left to be done:

There are more immediate hurdles as euro zone finance ministers, who are expected to meet later in the week to sign off on the deal, have told Athens it must also explain 325 million euros ($430 million) out of this year’s total budget cuts will be achieved before the bailout is agreed.

Highlighting the exasperation on the side of paymaster, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that Greek promises on austerity measures are no longer good enough because so many vows have been broken and the country has to dramatically change its ways.

The Asian markets are mostly green tonight. The Nikkei is up about 0.5%, and the Hang Seng is up 0.7%.

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: the S&P 500 futures are up 8 and Dow futures are up 60.

Oil: WTI futures are up to $99.61 and Brent is up to $118.27 per barrel.

Yesterday:
• Summary for Week ending February 10th
• Schedule for Week of February 12th