Markets Rise, Euro Up After Greek Elections

Financial markets around Asia seem to be breathing easier after Greece's pro-bailout coalition narrowly won yesterday's election, reports the Wall Street Journal. The euro was up to $1.2714 from its $1.2640 close on Friday, with Tokyo's Nikkei up 1.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rising 1.5%, and South Korea's Kospi gaining 2.1%. "This is what the market wants to hear," said one market strategist. "The market doesn't want to hear that they're going to have another election and we'll have another period of limbo."

On the other hand, perpetual ray of sunshine Paul Krugman thinks the Greek results just mean more pain for all. "So they will now have the ability to continue pursuing an unworkable policy. Yay!," Krugman writes at the New York Times. Even if Greece's government is able to work things out, that only frees up investors to freak out about Spain and Italy. "I'm not sure the rally is going to last long," an executive at UBS tells Reuters. "The problems are still there, you still have huge fiscal issues and it's not just Greece, it's Spain and others." (More Greece stories.)