Dr. Platon Monokroussos, Chief Market Economist, Deputy General Manager, Eurobank Ergasias S.A
HIGHLIGHTS
WORLD ECONOMIC & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
GLOBAL MARKETS: Absorbing the shock of the terrorist events in Brussels yesterday, the majority of European bourses were firmer in early trade supported by positive euro area data. In FX markets, the USD gained some ground in early European trade on Wednesday following comments by Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, a non-voter this year but one of the Central Bank’s most dovish members, that he expects two rate hikes this year.
GREECE: Speaking to Parliament yesterday, Minister of Finance Euclid Tsakalotos said that negotiations between official creditors and domestic authorities in the context of the 1st programme review will resume on April 4th and are likely to be concluded by April 12th-13th. Elsewhere, the current account balance recorded a deficit of €742mn in January 2016, up by €461mn on an annual basis, marking the first deterioration in the last seven months.
SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
CESEE MARKETS: In CESEE FX markets, the Hungarian forint remained under pressure earlier today, after the Central Bank unexpectedly cut interest rates at its MPC meeting yesterday. In the external sovereign debt markets, Serbia’s Public Debt Administration soldon Tuesday €75mn of EUR-denominated 5-year government bonds at an average accepted yield of 3.45%.
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