European stock markets clambered off day lows Tuesday amid hopes that key actors in the Greek debt drama will finally get their act together and provide the country even more funds than previously agreed to help it pay off creditors, AP reported. All eyes in the markets will be on upcoming press briefings in Berlin following meetings between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet. Investors remain on tenterhooks to find out what Merkel, Strauss-Kahn and Trichet agree _ there is growing talk that that the IMF may offer Greece more than the ¤10 billion it has already pledged and that Merkel will finally realize there is no time for further deliberation if this crisis is not going to lead to wide-scale government defaults, another banking crisis and a swift return to recession across the whole single currency bloc. As a result, the markets think Merkel might commit to transfer its ¤8.4 billion share of the ¤45 billion bailout deal to Athens well in advance of the May 19 deadline, when Greece has around ¤10 billion of debt repayments due. As a result, stocks in Europe came off their earlier lows and Wall Street opened higher. In Europe, Germany's DAX was down 33.30 points, or 0.5 percent, at 6,126.21 while France's CAC-40 fell 30.79 points, or 0.8 percent to 3,813.81. However, Britain's FTSE 100 index of leading shares was up 13.18 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,616.70. Hopes of an imminent deal helped the markets in Portugal and Greece recover strongly _ in Lisbon, the PSI 20 index was up 0.8 percent at 7,211.94 _ earlier it had dropped 6 percent though. Athens' composite ASE index was relatively buoyant after the regulator banned short-selling of banking stocks for two months and expectations that Europe's policymakers will finally rise up to the challenge _ following five days of dramatic declines, the index was up 0.9 percent at 1,712.23. Wall Street opened solidly _ the Dow Jones industrial average was uup 28.26 points, or 0.3 percent, at 11,020.25, while the Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 6.1 points, or 0.5 percent, at 1,189.81. -- SPA
