Dr. Platon Chief Market Economist, Deputy General Manager, Eurobank Ergasias S.A.,
HIGHLIGHTS
WORLD ECONOMIC & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
GLOBAL MARKETS: Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average broke overnight the 22,000 mark, reaching a new high in its 121-year history. Nevertheless, major Asian equity indices traded in the red on Thursday, with South Korean technology stocks being the worst-performing, and European bourses followed suit with energy and banking stocks dragging down broader indices. In FX markets, the EUR/USD extended its gains yesterday to reach a fresh 2.5-year high of 1.1910, before retreating to 1.1840 during European trading on Thursday. Capitalizing on the USD weakness, the GBP/USD hit yesterday an 11-month high of 1.3250 ahead of today’s BoE’s monetary policy decision that could shed some light on the interest rates outlook. We expect the BoE to keep policy interest rates unchanged, with investors attention likely to focus on how the members voted and on updated forecasts for growth and inflation that may reflect recent disappointing data.
GREECE: The new out-of-court workout framework is officially launching today with the activation of the electronic platform for the submission of applications. The relevant bill was voted on April 28 2017 as a prior action in the context of the 2nd programme review and it constitutes an organised out-of-court procedure for the overall and long-term settlement of the debts of eligible entities. According to the General Government data published yesterday, total General Government arrears (including tax arrears of €1.25 bn) at the end of June 2017 stood at €5.13 bn from €5.05 bn in the previous month.
SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
ROMANIA: Retail sales edged lower by -0.4% MoM/+6.5% YoY in June down from +1.1% MoM/+8.7% YoY in May. NBR will most likely leave interest rates unchanged in tomorrow’s meeting.
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