It’s almost crunch time for Greece

With Greece on the edge, the markets are looking volatile. John C Burford uses his chart-trading methods to plot a path through the chaos.

It has never been a question of if Greece would default on its payments, but when. And now, the day of reckoning has suddenly loomed closer. Greece's banks will be shut all week, and capital controls have been imposed on its citizens. That act is always the first step towards default and is, of course, deflationary, with a negative influence on stockmarkets.

There is no way in the rational world that Greece's economy could be expected to grow at such a rate that it could maintain its massive debt payments while still in the euro. And while the country is gripped by austerity.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

John is is a British-born lapsed PhD physicist, who previously worked for Nasa on the Mars exploration team. He is a former commodity trading advisor with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and worked in a boutique futures house in California in the 1980s.

 

He was a partner in one of the first futures newsletter advisory services, based in Washington DC, specialising in pork bellies and currencies. John is primarily a chart-reading trader, having cut his trading teeth in the days before PCs.

 

As well as his work in the financial world, he has launched, run and sold several 'real' businesses producing 'real' products.