European Market Update: April 18, 2012

(SE) Sweden Central Bank (Riksbank) left its Repo Rate unchanged at 1.50%; as expected

(EU) Eurozone Feb Current Account nsa: -€5.9B v -€12.3B prior; Current Account Seasonally Aaj: -€1.3B v +€4.5B prior

(ZA) South Africa Mar CPI (all items) M/M: 1.1% v 1.1%e; Y/Y: 6.0% v 6.0%e

(UK) Bank of England Minutes: Voted 9-0 to leave interest rate unchanged at 0.50% and 8-1 to maintain Asset Purchase Target unchanged at £325B

(UK) Mar Jobless Claims Change: +3.6K v +6.0Ke; Claimant Count Rate: 4.9% v 5.0%e

(UK) Feb Average Weekly Earnings 3M/Y: 1.1% v 1.2%e; Weekly Earnings ex-Bonus 3M/Y: 1.6% v 1.6%e

(UK) Feb ILO Unemployment Rate: 8.3% v 8.4%e

(EU) Euro Zone Feb Construction Output M/M: -7.1% v -0.5% prior; Y/Y: -12.9% v -2.7% prior

(CH) Swiss Credit Suisse ZEW Expectation Survey: +2.1 v 0 (flat) prior

(ES) Spain Q1 House Price Index Q/Q: -3.0% v -1.8% prior; Y/Y: -7.2% v -6.8% prior

Fixed Income

(EU) ECB allotted $0.9B in 7-day USD liquidity operation at fixed 0.65% vs. $1.3B prior

(SE) Sweden sold SEK2.5B vs. SEK2.5B indicated in 3.5% 2022 Bonds; yield 1.815%

(DE) Germany sold €4.206B in 0.25% Mar 2014 Schatz; avg Yield 0.14% v 0.31% prior (record low yield); Bid-to-cover: 1.8X v 1.8x prior

Equities

Indices: FTSE 100 -0.20% at 5754, DAX -0.50% at 6764, CAC-40 -1.1% at 3257, IBEX-35 -2.6% at 7181, FTSE MIB -1.5% at 14,732, SMI -0.30% at 6181

European equity indices opened the session lower, following the gains seen on Tuesday's session. Indices have remained in negative territory amid broad weakness in the banking sector. Ahead of Thursday's bond auction, Spain's IBEX-35 has underperformed. Spanish banks are lower after data from the Bank of Spain showed that in February, bad loans rose to the highest level since the mid -1990s, while a separate report revealed that in Q1, Spanish housing prices declined by 7.2 y/y.

In London, Tesco [TSCO.UK] has moved between gains and losses after reporting its FY11 net profit in line with market expectations. In other UK movers, GKN [GKN.UK] and Heritage Oil [HOIL.UK] are both trading lower after reporting their respective financial statements. Gold and silver miner Fresnillo [FRES.UK] has gained more than 3% following the release of its Q1 production report.

Amsterdam-listed semiconductor equipment company ASML [ASML.NL] has declined by more than 2%, following the release of its Q1 earnings and Q2 outlook. Heineken [HEIA.NL] is higher by over 3%, as the company's Q1 sales exceeded analysts' forecasts. Iberdrola [IBE.ES] has declined by over 7%, as Spain's ACS [ACS.ES] sold a 3.7% stake in the firm. German carbon and graphite materials producer, SGL Carbon's [SGL.DE] shares have been weighed down by its Q1 earnings report and planned issuance of convertible notes. Douglas [DOU.DE] has gained more than 2% on renewed takeover speculation, while Aixtron [AIXA.DE] is down by over 2%, following weaker than expected results from competitor Cree Inc.

In France, Casino [CO.FR] and LVMH [MC.FR] are both declining following the release of their respective Q1 sales reports. Switzerland-based agricultural company Syngenta [SYNN.CH] has declined by more than 3%, following the release of its Q1 sales report.