Economic Data
(EU) ECB: €4.9B borrowed in overnight loan facility v €1.1B prior; €481.1B parked in deposit facility vs. €475.2B prior
(IN) India Quarterly GDP Y/Y: 6.3%e v 6.9% prior
(ZA) South Africa Jan Private Sector Credit Y/Y: 7.3% v 7.1%e; M3 Money Supply Y/Y: 6.6 v 8.6%e
(DE) Germany Jan Import Price Index M/M: 1.3% v 0.7%e; Y/Y: 3.7% v 3.0%e
(DE) Germany Jan ILO Employment: 41.37M v 41.28M prior; Unemployment Rate: 5.8% v 5.7% prior
(FI) Finland Dec Final Trade Balance: -€533M v -€475M prelim
(TH) Thailand Jan Business Sentiment Index: 50.8 v 48.5 prior
(FR) France Jan Consumer Spending M/M: -0.4% v +0.2%e; Y/Y: -2.2% v -2.0%e
(DK) Denmark Q4 Preliminary GDP Q/Q: 0.2% v 0.6%e; Y/Y: 0.6% v 0.2%e
(ES) Spain Feb Preliminary Consumer Price Index Y/Y: 2.0% v 1.9%e; CPI EU Harmonized Y/Y: 1.9% v 1.9%e
(CH) Swiss Feb KOF Swiss Leading Indicator: -0.12 v -0.10e
(TR) Turkey Jan Trade Balance: -$7.0B v -$6.4Be
(TW) Taiwan Jan Leading Index M/M: 1.0% v 1.0% prior; Coincident Index M/M: 0.2 v 0.0% prior
(HK) Hong Kong Jan M2 Money Supply Y/Y: 5.6% v 4.6% prior; M3 Money Supply Y/Y: 5.5% v 4.6% prior; M1 Money Supply Y/Y: 1.3% v 8.8% prior
(SE) Sweden Q4 GDP Q/Q: -1.1% v -0.7%e; Y/Y: 1.1% v 2.6%e
(SE) Sweden Dec Non-Manual Worker Wages: 2.7 v 2.6% prior
(DE) Germany Feb Unemployment Change: 0K (flat) v -5Ke; Unemployment Rate: 6.8% v 6.7%e
(AT) Austria Jan Consumer Price Index M/M: -0.3% v +0.2% prior; Y/Y: 3.0% v 3.2% prior
(CZ) Czech Jan Money Supply Y/Y: 6.0% v 5.3% prior
(IC) Iceland Jan Final Trade Balance (ISK): 10.1B v 12.0B prior
(NO) Norway Jan Credit Indicator Growth Y/Y: 6.9% v 6.7%e
(NO) Norway Q4 Manufacturing Wage Index Q/Q: 1.4% v 2.1% prior
(UK) Jan Net Consumer Credit: £0.1B v £0.2Be; Net Lending: £1.6B v £0.8Be
(UK) Jan Mortgage Approvals: 58.7K v 54.0Ke (highest reading since Dec 2009)
(UK) Jan M4 Money Supply M/M: +1.6% v -1.4% prior (fastest growth since Oct 2009); Y/Y: -1.8% v -2.5% prior; M4 Ex IOFCs 3M Annualized: no est v -0.8% prior
(EU) Euro Zone Jan CPI M/M: -0.8% v -0.8%e; Y/Y: 2.6% v 2.7%e; CPI Core Y/Y: 1.5% v 1.7%e
(CH) Swiss Jan CPI EU Harmonized M/M: -0.7% v -0.3%e; Y/Y: -0.9% v -0.7%e
(GR) Greece Dec Retail Sales Value Y/Y: -11.0% v -6.4% prior; Retail Sales Volume: 12.7% v -8.9% prior
(ES) Spain Dec Current Account: -€3.6B v -€4.1B prior
Fixed Income:
(EU) ECB allots $3.5B in 7-Day USD Liquidity Tender at fixed 0.61% vs. $3.6B prior
(EU) ECB allots $14.5B in 3-Month USD Liquidity Tender at fixed 0.62% vs. $9.4B prior
(SE) Sweden sells total SEK10B vs. SEK10B indicated in 3-month and 7-month Bills
(EU) ECB allots €6.5B in 3-Month Tender (MRO) vs. €19.6B prior
(EU) ECB allotted €529.5B in 3-Year Lending Tender (LTRO) vs. €500Be; Bidders at 800 vs. 523 prior
(DE) Germany sold €3.258B in 2.0% Jan 2022 Bund; Avg Yield 1.83% v 1.82% prior; Bid-to-cover: 1.4x v 1.4x prior
SPEAKERS/FIXED INCOME/FX/COMMODITIES/ERRATUM
Notes/Observations
Dow Jones Industrial closes above the 13,000 level for the first time since 2008
Fed member Pianalto: Will take five years to get back to 6% unemployment
Japan fund managers raise global equity weighting in Feb
German Unemployment change slightly weaker than expected but unchanged MoM
ECB 3-year allotment in line with expectations at €529.5B but had 800 banks participate vs. 523 prior
Equities:
FTSE 100 flat at 5928, DAX +0.40% at 6916, CAC-40 +0.30% at 3460, IBEX-35 +0.24% at 8548, FTSE MIB +0.75% at 16,466, SMI +0.20% at 6135
Markets traded up ahead of ECB's LTRO which boosted optimism that the second long-term refinancing operation would ease the tension in the banking sector. Data showed that the 3-year tender, which was slightly higher than expected, attracted 800 bidders from 523 prior. Markets are still digesting the news and are moving erratically but remain in positive territory. Banks rallied during the session.
Standard Chartered [STAN.UK] was up approx. 2% after releasing better than expected earnings and increasing its dividend. Bank also expected to see double digit EPS growth in medium term. ITV [ITV.UK] also rose after exceeding expectations. Swiss cement-maker, Holcim [HOLN.CH] was higher after reporting a narrower than expected loss and higher revenues. Company expects higher demand across its geographic segments. Hochtief [HOT.DE] reported a loss for its full year and expected that its 2012 pretax profit to be lower than 2010 level. Company also announced that it would not pay a dividend in 2011. Shares were lower.