Dr. Platon Chief Market Economist, Deputy General Manager, Eurobank Ergasias S.A.,
HIGHLIGHTS
WORLD ECONOMIC & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
GLOBAL MARKETS: At the semi-annual testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, Fed’s Chair Janet Yellen adopted a tone similar to the January FOMC policy statement citing that, should both employment and inflation evolve in line with the Central Bank’s expectations, “a further adjustment of the federal funds rate” would probably be needed in upcoming monetary policy meetings. In reaction to the Fed Chair’s less dovish than expected comments, US Treasuries weakened and the USD firmed across the board. Looking at the day ahead, market focus is on UK labour and US inflation data. Fed Chair Yellen will re-deliver her testimony to the House Financial Services Committee but it should not deviate much from her speech to the Senate Banking Committee.
GREECE: The European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici, is in Athens today where he is scheduled to meet the Greek PM and FinMin with the aim to promote an agreement between Greece and its official lenders with a view to complete the 2ndprogramme as soon as possible. The Hellenic Statistical Authority published yesterday the quarterly national accounts flash estimates for Q4 2016 according to which real GDP in Greece contracted on a quarterly basis by -0.4% in Q4 2016. The Q3 2016 reading was upwards revised to +0.9% from +0.8%. On an annual basis, real GDP grew by +0.3% from +2.2% in Q3 2016 (revised by +0.4ppts). Based on the above, the 2016 full year real GDP growth rate stood at +0.3% (in line with EC Winter Forecasts, February 2017) from -0.2% in 2015 and +0.4% in 2014.
SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
BULGARIA: Growth remained on track in Q4-2016, bringing the FY2016 at 3.4% an inch down from 3.6% in FY2015.
SERBIA: In line with market expectations, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) stayed put on its monetary policy, keeping the benchmark rate at the current record low level of 4.00% for the 7th month running.
Viewers can log herebelow and read the full report: Daily Overview February 15 2017
