Economic Data
(RU) Russia Narrow Money Supply w/e Mar 19th (RUB): 6.84T v 6.86T prior
(FR) France Q4 Final Wages Q/Q: 0.3% v 0.3% prelim.
(FR) France Mar Business Confidence: 96 v 93e; Production Outlook Indicator: -15 v -28e; Own-Company Production Outlook: +6 v -1 prior
(ES) Spain Feb Producer Prices M/M: 0.7%e v 0.8% prior; Y/Y: 3.4%e v 3.6% prior.
(TW) Taiwan Feb Industrial Production Y/Y: 8.4% v 8.9%e; Commercial Sales Y/Y: 6.3% v 4.6%e.
(IT) Italy Jan Retail Sales M/M:+0.7% v -0.1%e; Y/Y: -0.8% v -3.4%e.
(IC) Iceland Feb Wage Index M/M: 2.1% v 0.0% prior; Y/Y: 11.3% v 9.1% prior.
(MA) Malaysia Feb CPI Y/Y: 2.2% v 2.4%e.
(UK) Feb BBA Loans for House Purchase: 33.1K v 37.3Ke.
Fixed Income
(ZA) South Africa sold total ZAR800M in 2017, 2022 and 2028 I/L Bonds.
(SE) Sweden sold SEK3.0B in 0.25% I/L 2022 Bonds.
Speakers/Fixed Income/FX/Commodites/Erratum
Notes/Observations
Rumors that China PBoC could again cut its RR helps to sooth risk aversion.
Spain vows to honor fiscal adjustment.
Dealer chatter of selling of Greek PSI bonds, linked to absence of CDSs and ability to manage risk.
SNB reiterates pledge to defend EUR/CHF floor at 1.2000.
France raises 2012 GDP outlook to +0.7% from 0.5% prior.
Equities
FTSE 100 -0.05% at 5842, DAX -0.20% at 6968, CAC-40 -0.40% at 3458, IBEX-35 -1% at 8268, FTSE MIB -0.50% at 16,360, SMI -0.40% at 6225
European shares were steady but remained in negative territory ahead of the US home sales due out in the NY morning. Markets are still reeling from Germany's contracting PMI and China's lower manufacturing data which came out during Thursday's session.
In corporate news, BT Group [BT.UK] rallied after announcing a pension agreement with trustees. Company announced that it would make a sum lump payment of £2.0B by end of March.