Greece’s European lenders on Tuesday played down Athens’s hopes of a swift end to negotiations on an aid agreement and said talks must speed up before the country runs out of cash. The sober outlook from Brussels and Berlin contrasted sharply with vigorous optimism displayed in Athens, where top officials from the new leftist government made a series of public appearances to promise that a deal was just days away. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told a talk show overnight that a deal could arrive in a week, while Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said talks were in their “final stretch”. The comments helped push Greek stocks up 2.6 percent on Tuesday. But euro zone policymakers said talks were not moving nearly as fast as needed to clinch a deal in a short time. “More time and effort is needed to bridge the gaps on the remaining open issues. We […]