You Could Fit America?s Greek Stock Holdings In One U.S. Midcap
By ?Sofia Horta E Costa
While Americans are the biggest foreign owners of Greek stocks, the holdings don?t exactly represent a critical exposure.
According to data from Athens Exchange Group, overseas investors hold 59 percent of the Greek stock market, and of that U.S. traders have about 25 percent. That comes out to $5.7 billion — about the size of doughnut maker Dunkin? Brands Group Inc., the 110th weighting in the S&P Midcap 400 Index.
U.S. investors kept sending money to Greek stocks even as the market tanked. An exchange-traded fund tracking the shares has had inflows every week this year and received $9.5 million last week. Its market cap reached a record this month.
?U.S. investors have been programmed for years that they will get bailed out — from the Greenspan put to quantitative easing to General Motors,?said Kevin Kelly, chief investment officer at Recon Capital Partners in New York. ?So they are more inclined to take risks in Greece.?
A 17 percent drop in the benchmark ASE Index this year through the end of last week has brought the market value of Greek shares to $36 billion. That?s about the size of Yahoo! Inc. alone, or Carnival Corp., the operator of ships that take Americans to Athens.