Market commentary: Greece announces growth plan

European futures indicate a stronger opening continuing a positive trend as the US traded higher in yesterday’s session.

The nation of Greece yesterday announced a plan that instead of proposing write downs will exchange current debt to new borrowings that will be linked to the country’s growth.

This is a much softer tone than we heard during the election period and may be the start of a series of negotiations which Germany will be interested in. This plan was announced by the finance minister Yanis Varoufakis as he was speaking to about 100 financiers in London on Monday.

Australia’s central bank yesterday cut its benchmark interest to 2.25%, which incidentally is also a record new low. The Australian central bank is trying to fight the overvalued currency which is hurting the economy.

Government yields continue to go lower. Most notably is the Germany 10-year yields which continue to go lower as investors continue to seek safe havens as they worry that the region would fall into deflation mode. Germany’s 10-year yields traded lower than the Japanese counterparts for the first time on record.

On the corporate front, Banco Santander 4q profit rose by more than 68% when comparing year on year. The bank reported 4Q profits of €1.46bn in the last quarter.

BP also published good results that exceeded analysts’ expectations. Analysts were expecting a 4Q adjusted profit of $1.63 billion whereas the company reported $2.24 billion

Danish Banking Giant Danske reported in line with estimates as the bank reported 4Q adjusted net profit of DKK 2.81bn. Swedbank on the other hand missed estimates and reported a net income of SEK3.80 billion.

Out of the US, today we will await for the results from Disney and Lenovo. BG Group and LVMH Hennessy Louis Vuitton also reports today.

In terms of Data we will await the US factory orders for the month of December and the Wards total US Vehicles for the month of January. Brazil reports its Industrial Production for the month of December and South Korea, Turkey and Italy all report their Consumer Price Indices.

This article was issued by Darin Pace, Treasury Manager at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt . The information, view and opinions provided in this article is being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri & Co. Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.