The Greek Endgame Is Here: Are You Playing?

It would take a brave investor to go shopping for shares today, as the Greek debt crisis endgame heads into its final stages.

Fortune favours the brave, however, so how tough are you feeling right now?

Because if you are feeling bold, now would be a good time to play the game by seizing the opportunity to pick up stocks at panic prices.

Lucky Dip?

After news broke on Sunday that Athens was shutting down banks and imposing credit controls, the FTSE 100 was only going one way this morning.

And so it proved, instantly falling almost 2%, although it has since steadied at around 6650 at the time of writing.

The index has now fallen 6.7% since peaking at 7122 in April. Investors who prefer to buy on the dips rather than the peaks will see that as a positive signal.

But are there more dips to come?

Greek Tragedy

With a referendum to come this Sunday on 5 July, European equities face a week of worry, as does the UK stock market.

This isn’t the time to sell, however. If you are investing for the long term, you can afford to look far beyond short-term disruptions like these.

Wise investors have been expecting this for months if not years, and despite today’s drops, markets are actually relatively calm.

Greece, after all, accounts for just 2% of European GDP.

This may be a heart-wrenching tragedy for the Greeks, but it isn’t the end of the world.

Blast Off

The big worry is whether “Grexit” will be contained or spark contagion across Europe.

If Greece goes, markets could turn their attention to other troubled states, such as Portugal and Italy.

But I suspect that, unlike black sheep Greece, the European Central Bank will defend them to the last ditch.

President Mario Draghi won his remit to hose down the eurozone with QE for exactly this reason: he has the power to blast Europe off the rocks with hot money if need be.

Steady, Aim, Fire

Investors have a lot more to worry about, such as the Chinese stock market correction and the prospect of a US interest rate hike as early as September.

Perversely, our sea of troubles could prove good news for stock markets, by persuading central bankers to stick with monetary easing for even longer.

If you can screw up your courage, now could be a great opportunity to top up your favourite stocks.

Just don’t blaze away and expend all your ammunition in one go, Grexit uncertainty will only intensify in the run-up to Sunday.

And knowing Greece, it will continue next week and beyond.