Market players know all about certain Greek symbols such as alpha, beta, gamma and delta. Today they need to add another to the list. Less than an hour ago Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece. Once done, he left the building and walked straight to the Greek WW2 memorial site, the Kaisariani rifle range, the spot where Nazis executed 200 Greeks on 1 May 1944. In his first official act he laid flowers* on the memorial.
You get it, people? Geddit? Sinking in yet? Good.
UPDATE: And this from Reuters. More symbolism, it’s coming thick and fast today. Wowsers, they couldn’t even be subtle about it, could they? That took about 30 minutes from the swearing in to the ratings review. This whole thing is Argentina 2003 redux, impressive correlation.
LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Standard and Poor’s sent an early warning shot to Greece’s new government on Monday, saying it could downgrade its sovereign credit rating even before its next planned review date in mid-March if things go badly. continues here
*Red roses, also a symbolic move in Greece, as it’s the flower associated with Aphrodite.