Dr. Platon Monokroussos, Chief Market Economist, Deputy General Manager, Eurobank Ergasias S.A
WORLD ECONOMIC & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
GLOBAL MARKETS: The majority of Asian bourses closed in the red on Wednesday following the government announcement of a less than expected new fiscal stimulus package for the Japanese economy which disappointed market participants, while, in Europe, the picture in equity markets was rather mixed in early trade. In FX markets, the US dollar was trading 0.2% higher on Wednesday at 95.253, but remained close to yesterday’s five-week low of 95.003 on diminished expectations for an imminent interest rate hike. The calendar today includes PMI Composite and services indices (July) for the Euro area, and July ADP employment report as well as non-manufacturing ISM index for the US.
GREECE: On August 2nd Standard & Poor’s raised its long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on four Greek banks, Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus to ‘CCC+/C’ from ‘SD’ with stable outlook for all four banks. An updated Code of Conduct governing the management of Non-performing Loans held by the private sector was issued by the Bank of Greece and published yesterday in the Government Gazette.
SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
ROMANIA: Retail sales rebounded in June after posting the first monthly decline in the past twelve months in May.
SERBIA: The outgoing/incoming PM Aleksandar Vucic held a press conference yesterday disclosing that the new government coalition will be voted in the Assembly by August 11th.
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