Dr. Platon Monokroussos, Chief Market Economist, Deputy General Manager, Eurobank Ergasias S.A
HIGHLIGHTS
WORLD ECONOMIC & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
GLOBAL MARKETS: Long-dated US Treasury yields moved lower on the back of weaker oil prices with the recent steepening trend appearing to have come to a temporary pause ahead of the conclusion of the two-day FOMC monetary policy meeting late on Wednesday, November 14th. Fed Funds futures are currently assigning fully a 25bps rate hike at this week’s meeting while investors are expected to closely scrutinize the updated Summary of Economic Projections and the Fed’s “dot plot” for additional insight over the Fed’s tightening deliberations in the coming months.
GREECE: In an interview the Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos stated that he anticipated a deal that would allow the country’s inclusion in the ECB’s quantitative easing programme by the spring of 2017 opening the way for Greece to test the markets with a debt issue later in the year. He added that Greece does not have an uncompromising stance, rather it is willing to discuss in good faith any objections that arise in the implementation of the programme. In a blog post the IMF’s European Department Chief Poul Thomsen and Chief Economist Maurice Obstfeld argued that the primary surplus target of 3.5%-of-GDP by 2018 and beyond would require “a degree of austerity that could prevent the nascent recovery from taking hold” and added that the Fund would support a new loan from Greece with a primary surplus target of 1.5% of GDP.
Viewers can log herebelow and read the full report: Daily Overview December 13 2016
