National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is surging on news that banker Lucas Papademos has been named as the new Greek Prime Minister.  The 64-year old will replace outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou as a part of the 130 billion Euro financial aid package approval to help the country’s finances.

As a part of his taking office, Papademos is saying that the interim Greek government aid deal is critical to the country’s future in the Euro and that the interim government must approve the deal on the table and more importantly it must agree to the proposed reforms and austerity measures.

National Bank of Greece shares are up over 9% in local Athens trading and shares are indicated up 7.3% at $0.59 in New York trading for its ADRs.

Whether or not you trust the Greek move or not is up to you, but the market today is telling you that this is good for Greece.

We would encourage you to participate in a quick poll that is targeted around determining the future of the Euro.

The Euro is trading higher this morning and the CurrencyShares exchange-traded fund that tracks the Euro is up by 0.6% at $135.84 this morning.  The Italian ten-year yield is even back under 7% this morning.

JON C. OGG