Plans for Grexit, drying up, and the world’s most expensive cities

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Eurozone bonds were on a rollercoaster ride as a Greek bailout deal with creditors remained out of reach. Bonds had one of their most volatile days since Greek’s leftist government was elected five months ago.

Grexit planning is underway: investors have shifted to cash in anticipation of tumbling equities, while the UK braces for stranded tourists and mass migration.

Martin Wolf argues that neither the Greeks nor their partners should imagine a clean break if the country leaves the euro.

Back home, prime minister Alexis Tsipras is getting a taste of his own medicine: just as Greece is defying its international creditors, the country’s mayors are refusing the central government’s demands for cash. But the clock is ticking on Greece’s bills, as you can see in this interactive debt tracker, and if the country defaults, Lex says its banks may pay the price.

Finally, here’s your one-stop shop for all of the FT’s Greek debt crisis coverage. (FT)

In the news

Nestle’s African scaleback The world’s biggest food and drinks company is cutting back 15 per cent of its workforce in 21 African countries. The chief executive for the equatorial African region said it had overestimated the rise of the middle class: “We thought this would be the next Asia, but we have realised the middle class here in the region is extremely small and it isnot really growing.” (FT)

Coty’s $12bn beauty bet The company that owns Rimmel and Calvin Klein is close to buying $12bn worth of Procter & Gamble’s brands, including Olay and Wella. It made the top bid in a tough race against several larger rivals and private equity groups but is not guaranteed to win all the assets. (FT)

Audition for the White House Donald Trump, the flamboyant property tycoon and reality TV star, launched his presidential campaign with a bizarre tirade in which he declared the American dream “dead”. In a rambling speech that contained racist comments about Mexicans and paeans to his business acumen, Mr Trump noted, “I am really rich.” He announced his decision at Trump Tower, where he once had lunch with the FT in the nearly-empty basement buffet. (FT)

Drying up More than a third of the world’s largest groundwater reserves are being drained by human activity – a serious problem for regions where rainfall and snowmelt cannot make up for the water extracted from these reserves. The Arabian Aquifer System, a water source for more than 60m people, is the most “overstressed”. (FT)

It’s a big day for

EU reform David Cameron will lobby Matteo Renzi to back his reform plans but their meeting could be overshadowed by the prospect of a Greek debt default and Britain’s refusal to take a share of migrants arriving in Italy. (FT)

The Fed An interest-rate increase is unlikely at this week’s monetary policy meeting but Janet Yellen’s market-moving power will be on full display. She must walk a fine line when she speaks afterwards: too hawkish and markets could shudder violently, too dovish and it could invite complacency over the inevitable tightening. (FT)

Hong Kong politics The government presents its reform package, which will give citizens the right to vote for their chief executive. Pro-democracy lawmakers are likely to vote against the reforms as the candidates would have to be approved by Beijing – an issue that sparked protests last September. (NYT)

Food for thought

The beer kings Where do you go once “dream big” turns into reality and you have become the world’s biggest brewer? The FT examines the challenge facing AB InBev now.

The high life Tokyo held the title of the world’s most expensive city for expats over much of the past two decades but it no longer even makes the top 10.

Black like her The New Yorker looks at the case of Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who spent years presenting herself as an African-American. “Race, in this country and under certain circumstances, functions like a faith, in that the simple profession of membership is sufficient. The most – possibly the sole – democratic element of race in this country lies in this ecumenical approach to blackness.”

Giorgio Moroder feels love The Italian songwriter was one of disco’s key architects, one of 1980s Hollywood’s top soundtrack producers (Top Gun, Scarface, Flashdance) and is now the father of the electronic dance music “permeating nearly every popular genre like disco did 40 years ago”. After 30 years in semi-retirement, he’s back with a new album. (NPR)

Video of the day

Lean times in ‘Fort McMoney’ Alberta, home to Canada’s vast oil sands, was once the country’s promised land. But the collapse in crude prices has seen energy companies cancel or suspend billions of dollars in new projects, and thousands of workers have lost their jobs. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with The Financial Times. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: FirstFT is the Financial Times’ editors curated free daily email of the top global stories from the FT and the best of the rest of the web.

Image: A Greek national flag flutters atop the parliament building in Athens. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis.