By Carlos Guillen

Equity markets are trading slightly in red territory with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down less than half a percent from its closing price on Friday. While market dips into the red are never really encouraging, we have to say that today's dip is not all that bad. With the uncertainty still flowing out of Greece and with signs that China will not grow as fast as previously thought, we can certainly argue that equities should have been much more volatile, just as they had been for most of the second half of last year. Today, news that Greece continues to delay discussions on fixing its debt crisis, and forecasts from the International Monetary Fund in reference to GDP growth in China during 2012, are serving to put equities down—but not out.

The political situation in Greece has become almost laughable in the sense that one day all seems to be on track to be resolved, only to look in disarray the next day. Today, Greek leaders failed to meet to discuss the terms for a new bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. And the apparent reason for this was that the Greek government had not yet supplied the discussing parties with a 15-page summary of the conclusions of a meeting on Sunday of the political leaders, a summary that would be central to the discussions. Given the seriousness and huge consequences of a Greek failure, it is questionable why this summary was not completed in time. This delay to the process compelled German Chancellor Angela Merkel to step up pressure on Greece, warning that time was running short for a deal to be struck. Failure to strike a deal to secure the €130 billion ($170 billion) rescue fund increases the risk of pushing Greece into a chaotic debt default, which could threaten its future membership in the euro zone.

On the Asian front, according to the IMF, China's economic expansion would be cut almost in half if Europe's debt crisis gets worse, a scenario that would warrant significant fiscal stimulus from the nation's government. Based on the IMF's downside forecast for the global economy, China's growth could drop by as much as 4 percentage points from the 8.2 percent currently forecasted by the organization for this year. On the other hand, many on the Street see China's internal consumption as a cushion to any falling demand from abroad, a consumption that can easily be ramped higher by government intervention.

All in all, while equities are still in the red this afternoon, things could be a lot worse, and the stability is also a bit encouraging despite the European turmoil.

Shippers' Modicum of Relief
David Urani

My move of the day comes from the dry bulk shipping sector, which has been in lots of trouble lately, to say the least. Before all of the economic crises hit across the world, orders were put in for numerous vessels to be built to handle international trade and many of those orders are being completed at the beginning of this year. The decline in dry bulk shipping prices has been staggering as overcapacity and global economic issues have taken their toll. Today, the Baltic Dry shipping price index finally increased for the first time in eight weeks and as a result shippers the likes of Dryships (DRYS) and Diana Shipping (DSX) are surging in a relief rally.

It should be noted that today's increase is only a tiny tick up to 648 from 647 but it's the thought of a potential bottoming out that counts. Nevertheless, shippers are still floating in dire straits at these levels. The industry seemed to hit a new low today when it was discovered that Glencore has hired UK based Global Maritime for -$2,000 a day. That's right, Global Maritime will pay Glencore to hire its ships. That's because the vessels have to keep running; if they sit for too long they become unusable, and there wasn't enough demand to keep the ships active otherwise.

The collapsing prices have raised wide concerns of bankruptcies in the industry. What's interesting to remember is that Greece is a major shipping center and many of the leading shippers are based there. Greek banks surely have substantial exposure to shipping debt, and one has to wonder if potential pending bankruptcies will exacerbate the financial crisis there.