Economic Outlook: Such a deal

Stocks around the globe were mixed Tuesday on news of an agreement forged in Brussels that will avert an immediate Greek default.

Greece has about $19.3 billion in debt that matures March 20 and has been negotiating for months on many fronts to convince the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Banks its finances are strong enough to borrow $172 billion.

Seldom has a lender -- or a group of lenders -- worked so hard with a borrower to help it qualify for a loan. Just in the 11th hour alone, private creditors agreed to take a steeper loss on their Greek bonds, which were already to be devalued by 50 percent. That will now be a 53.5 percent devaluation that is critically, perhaps with some snickering, defined as a voluntary agreement. To say it is anything besides voluntary is to admit Greece is in default.

But to say Greece is in default would be a political and financial hell-bound train. If the brightest financial minds in Europe and their bosses put together a failed loan program, faith in Europe's leaders is bound to take a hit.

On the other hand, Portugal on Monday signaled that it, too, may have to request a second bailout and that puts the specter of default in clear focus. We're talking, essentially, a run on banks in Athens that are held together by investors in Germany, France and elsewhere. A margin call in Athens could drag down Portugal, Spain and Italy. It would be hard-pressed to find a stopping point.

In the last day of talks, Greece secured lower interest payments on the loans, and secured an agreement for central banks with Greek debt on their books to turn their profits on Greek bonds back over the Greece, which is precisely what central banks should be designed to do: cushion the risks, not increase them.

Needless to say, swing a microphone around in Europe and you can hear a finance minister declare it is a good deal for the eurozone -- the 17 nations that use the euro as currency. It is certainly not the deal union members in Greece want to read about in the morning newspapers, but that was unavoidable. It's just lucky for them the losses are being spread around as far as imaginable.

In international markets Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan slid 0.23 percent while the Shanghai composite index in China added 0.75 percent. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.25 percent while the Sensex in India added 0.76 percent.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 0.82 percent.

In midday trading in Europe, the FTSE 100 index in Britain shed 0.13 percent while the DAX 30 in Germany lost 0.52 percent. The CAC 40 in France shed 0.27 percent while the Stoxx Europe 600 slid 0.47 percent.