The Fed, Greece, and Italy–will the news never stop?

The Fed is set to speak this afternoon about “Operation Twist.” Will the Fed, won’t the Fed, decide to sell short-term bills and notes from its portfolio in order to buy long-term bonds? But the really big news in the wings comes next Thursday, September 29, when Italy could set off a full-scale, domino-tumbling panic in European bond markets if its auction of government bonds fails.

More scary brinkmanship in the Greek debt crisis roils stock markets

Right about now, today, September 19, Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is scheduled talk to officials of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union by conference call in an effort to convince them that Greece can meet its deficit reduction goals and that they can approve the next $11 billion payment Greece needs to keep the doors open.