Greek Unemployment Reversal
The recent rise in Greece’s unemployment to 7.7% is a notable shift from the positive trend. We saw this indicator improve consistently throughout 2025, so this reversal suggests consumer demand may be weakening. This is the first concrete sign that the strong economic recovery story from last year might be facing headwinds. This isn’t happening in a vacuum, as we just saw January industrial production figures for Germany dip unexpectedly. Eurostat data confirms that industrial output across the entire Eurozone also contracted by 0.4%, showing a broader slowdown. The softness in the Greek labor market should therefore be seen as an early symptom of a wider European issue. Given this, we should consider positioning for a potential downturn in Greek equities. The Athens Stock Exchange General Index, which rallied over 15% in 2025, has already stalled in the first two months of this year, making it vulnerable. Buying put options on Greek-focused ETFs or shorting futures on the index are direct ways to act on this view.Volatility Strategy Considerations
Uncertainty is clearly rising, which suggests an increase in market volatility. We can see that implied volatility on options for European indices has already ticked up from the lows we saw in late 2025. This indicates that purchasing straddles or VSTOXX options could be a prudent strategy to position for a larger market move in the coming weeks. Create your live VT Markets account and start trading now.
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