federal election

Submitted by Stefan Frank via The Gatestone Institute,

There was a time when even the merest hint of a breakup of the Eurozone was considered a taboo topic in Europe. Who can forget Mario Draghi's response to a question from Zero Hedge readers who wondered if there is a "plan in place if a nation is forced to step out of the Eurozone"  to which Draghi's response was that "if the Euro breaks down, and if a country leaves the Euro, it's not like a sliding door. It's a very important thing. It's a project in the European Union. That's why you have a very hard time asking people like me "what would happened if." No Plan B."

With 2016 still fresh in most investors' minds, and questions about 2017 pressing, here is a summary, courtesy of Goldman's Allison Nathan, of where Goldman believes we closed out 2016, what is in store in the coming year, and ultimately, "what keeps Goldman up at night" about 2017.

2016, and a peek at 2017

If you thought 2016 was full of market maelstroms and geopolitical gotchas, 2017's 'known unknowns' suggest a year of more mayhem awaits...

Here's a selection of key events in the year ahead (and links to Bloomberg's quick-takes on each).

January

On Wednesday, Greek yields surged when it emerged that diplomatic relations between Greece and the Eurogroup had broken down once again, after European finance ministers suspended negotiations over granting short-term debt relief to Greece as a result of pledges by embattled Greek PM Tsipras unexpectedly said he would grant low-income pensioners a pre-Christmas payoff by spending €600 million to the nation's 1 million low-income pensioners, to replace a Christmas bonus scrapped by the Greek bailout supervisors.