Dr. Platon Monokroussos, Chief Market Economist, Deputy General Manager, Eurobank Ergasias S.A
HIGHLIGHTS
WORLD ECONOMIC & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
GLOBAL MARKETS: US May’s non-farm payrolls data surprised positively pushing US Treasury bond yields to fresh highs while major US stock indices ended lower on Friday and the USD gained some ground in European trade on Monday amid increased expectations that the Fed will embark on a rate tightening cycle sooner rather than later.
GREECE: Speaking before the Hellenic Parliament on Friday aiming to inform lawmakers on the state of official negotiations, Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras rejected official creditors’ proposals as “absurd” and “unrealistic”. The Greek PM held a teleconference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Holland the day after and all agreed to meet on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America summit on Wednesday, June 10. Meanwhile, Greece’s Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis will meet with his German counterpart in Berlin this morning.
SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
BULGARIA: According to preliminary data, Q1 2015 real GDP growth came in at 2.0%YoY, in line with a flash estimate, having picked up pace from a 1.3%YoY rise marked in the prior quarter.
ROMANIA: The leu has largely traded on its own fundamentals over the last few days, coming under pressure towards the end of last week and giving back its earlier gains following news of corruption charges being brought against Prime Minister Ponta. On the data front, the detailed Q1 2015 GDP data vindicated our expectations that private spending has taken over as the leading driver of economic activity.
Viewers can read the full report herebelow:
