HSBC announces shock job cuts whilst Greece remains market focus

It’s another dull day of data for the markets, meaning their susceptibility to the moving and shaking (or lack thereof) over Greece should remain high.

Rumours of a 9 month extension to the current Greek programme, a plan that would shift the date of the current crisis to March next year by releasing around €18 billion in various funds, has failed to spark much hope in the Eurozone this morning with the region’s slender gains not strong enough to hold-off another potential round of its all-too familiar 3 digit declines as the day goes on. Reports of the contents of any deal are all well and good, but without the erasing of those pesky Greek red lines it’s effectively a moot point. And with Tsipras and Varoufakis both adamant that a deal is painfully close, if only its creditors would compromise, there seems to be no movement from the current impasse.

It appears that both sides have reached some kind of negotiation overload, and are now simply waiting for the other side to blink first instead of engaging in any real kind of discussion with each other. Sadly for Greece, the maintenance of that current status quo harms them rather more than it harms its creditors, however much Tsipras plays up the possible post-Grexit Eurozone doomsday scenarios.

The FTSE remains in 2 month low territory after it turned its day of lifelessness into a last minute tumble on Monday night. Yet it looks slightly more excitable this morning than it did throughout most of yesterday, despite the lack of change in the current global standings. Like Monday there is little hope of any figure-based frolicking this Tuesday, unless the UK’s trade balance sees a significant move from its current estimates, so the FTSE will like be in the thrall of whatever limited Greek happenings the market sees today.

The biggest news of the morning came from the cost-saving measures announced by HSBC. The bank intends to cut 25,000 across the globe, 8000 of which are in the UK; whether this means HSBC will make good on its threat to move its HQ out of the UK is unclear, but bank boss Stuart Gulliver did speak of a growing ‘Asian focus’ . However, there is a sense that this move, beyond the explicit cost-saving factors, is somewhat of a warning to George Osborne ahead of a speech by the Chancellor on Wednesday, a speech incidentally that is expected to contain a retreat on his bank levy policies. The HSBC’s shares slipped slightly after the bell, but not enough to suggest widening losses once the dust has settled on this news, especially with Gulliver talking up the bank’s dividend growth.