Dr. Platon Monokroussos, Chief Market Economist, Deputy General Manager, Eurobank Ergasias S.A
HIGHLIGHTS
WORLD ECONOMIC & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
GLOBAL MARKETS: US retail sales for April came in weaker than expected, adding to market worries over whether the domestic economy is poised to rebound strongly from the Q1 GDP soft patch. Against this background, the majority of European equity markets opened lower on Thursday while the USD came under renewed pressure. Elsewhere, German government bonds and US Treasuries weakened mainly due to technical factors while macroeconomic fundamentals were shrugged off.
GREECE: Greece’s stats agency (EL.STAT.) released y-day its flash GDP estimate for the first quarter of this year. The data revealed that real output contracted by 0.2% on quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted (QoQ s.a.) basis, a bit better than our NOWcasting (mid-point) estimate of -0.5% that was published in early April./ In an attempt to speed up official discussions in an effort to secure a timely agreement with official creditors, the Greek government is reportedly expected to submit to parliament for approval in the coming sessions a bill incorporating the legislation required for the implementation of a number of measures), estimated to be worth up to c. €14bn in the period 2015-2016, aiming to boost budgetary revenue and improve VAT collection.
CYPRUS: In Q1-2015, Cyprus recorded the first positive growth rate on a quarterly and yearly basis since Q2-2011. GDP growth expanded by +1.6% qoq/+0.2% yoy in Q1-2015 up from -0.4% qoq/-1.8% yoy in Q4-2014.
SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
BULGARIA: The domestic economy picked up pace in Q1-2015, growing at the strongest rate since Q2-2011. In more detail, GDP growth expanded by 0.9% qoq/+2.0% yoy over the first three months of the year, up from +0.4% qoq/+1.3% yoy in Q4-2015.
ROMANIA: According to the flash estimate, GDP expanded by +1.6% qoq/+4.3% yoy in Q1-2015 up from +1% qoq/+2.7% yoy in Q4-2014 largely exceeding consensus expectations (+0.6% qoq/+2.6% yoy).
Viewers can log on herebelow and read the full report:
