WORLD ECONOMY
The European Central Bank faces the threat that speculators will target the debt of the continent's peripheral countries if they fail to reach an accord on Greece's bailout and the country exits the euro zone, BK Asset Management's Boris Schlossberg told CNBC on Friday.
Speculators do not have a green light to short the debt of countries like Spain and Portugal, but that could change if the ECB gives the impression that the euro zone could come undone.
"If [speculators] feel there's a fracture in the euro zone, that then gives them an opening to break it up even further. That's where you have a danger," Schlossberg said in a CNBC "Squawk Box" interview.
"That's really what the European monetary authorities and all the European fiscal authorities are really worried about. They're much more worried about making sure that there's political unity here, that it's a fortress, because once one chink of the armor goes, the fortress becomes much weaker for everybody else."
European finance ministers are set to meet on Friday for the third time in two weeks to discuss the terms of Greece's bailout. On Thursday,Germany rejected Greece's application for an extension to its loan agreement.
The bailout officially expires on Feb. 28, putting pressure on the parties to come to an agreement. A number of the finance ministers must present the terms of a new deal to their respective country's parliament for a vote.
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The European Central Bank faces the threat that speculators will target the debt of the continent's peripheral countries if they fail to reach an accord on Greece's bailout and the country exits the euro zone, BK Asset Management's Boris Schlossberg ...
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