Greece

One day after Greek 2Y bond yields tumbled following press reports that for the first time in the latest Greek mini-crisis, the IMF and Eurozone creditors finally agreed on a "common stance" regarding what the Greek fiscal surplus and debt profile would look like, despite talks between Greece and its creditors ending in Brussels with no breakthrough, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras on Saturday warned the IMF and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to "stop playing with fire" in handling his country's debt.

Update: It appears expectations of an imminent deal may be premature, because this just hit the tape:

• GREEK OFFICIAL SAYS NO BAILOUT DEAL EXPECTED IN MEETING TODAY.

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In a welcome sign the latest conflict between the troubled Greece's lenders may be thawing, Reuters reports that Euro zone creditors and the International Monetary Fund have agreed between themselves to present a common stance to Greece later on Friday in talks on reforms and the fiscal path Athens must take, euro zone officials said. 

Submitted by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

The game playing in Greece gets curiouser and curiouser.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble went on TV saying the only way Greece can get a haircut is if it leaves the Eurozone.

The IMF reiterated that Greece will not be able to make its payments.

Greece insists the IMF is wrong, yet it wants credit relief.

The Financial Times reports Greeks Escalate Bailout Divisions by Lashing out at ‘Misleading’ IMF Report.

Amid a more prolonged economic doldrums than The Great Depression, Greece is heading towards its 4th bailout/deal with creditors. Adding to Grexit fears (voiced by many in and out of Greece), Ted Malloch, President Trump's proposed US ambassador to the EU, casts doubt on survival of eurozone and says Athens should return to drachma.

With the IMF and Germany again at each other's throats over the neverending drama that is Greece, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble repeated the same line he has used since the third Greek bailout from the summer of 2015, and in response to the IMF's demands for a reduction in Greek debt and fiscal surplus, the German ruled out a debt cut for Athens "as a violation of European rules", adding that "the country would have to leave the euro area to do so."