Economic Data
(EU) ECB: €1.4B borrowed in overnight loan facility vs. €783M prior; €827.5B parked in deposit facility (fresh record high) vs. €820.8B prior
(UK) Feb Halifax House Prices M/M: -0.5% v +0.3%; 3M/Y: -1.9% v -1.6%e
(UK) Feb New Car Registrations Y/Y: -2.5% v 0.0% prior
(EU) Euro Zone Q4 Preliminary GDP Q/Q: -0.3% v -0.3%e; Y/Y: 0.7% v 0.7%e (second reading)
(EU) Euro Zone Q4 Preliminary Household Consumption Q/Q: -0.4% v -0.2%e; Govt Expenditures Q/Q: -0.2% v 0.0%e; Gross Fix Capital Q/Q: -0.7% v -0.4%e
Fixed Income:
(ZA) South Africa sold total ZAR2.1B vs. ZAR2.1B indicated in 2018, 2021 and 2041 bonds
(AT) Austria Debt Agency (AFFA) sold €1.1B vs. €1.1B indicated in 3.4% Nov 2022 Bonds; Avg Yield 2.890% v 3.322% prior; Bid-to-cover: 2.0x
(GR) Greece Debt Agency (PDMA) sold €1.14B vs. €875M indicated in 26-week Bills; Avg Yield 4.80% v 4.86% prior; Bid-to-cover: 2.63x v 2.71x prior
(EU) ECB allotted €17.5B in 7-day refinancing Tender at fixed 1.0%vs. €30Be
(HU) Hungary Debt Agency (AKK) sold HUF50B in 3-Month Bills; Avg Yield 7.25% v 7.22% prior; Bid-to-cover: 1.83x v 1.62x prior
(UK) DMO sold £1.0B in 0.75% March 2034 I/L Gilts; Real Yield 0.044% v 0.64% prior; Bid-to-cover: 1.93x
SPEAKERS/FIXED INCOME/FX/COMMODITIES/ERRATUM
Notes/Observations
Super Tuesday Republican primaries
RBA leaves Cash Target Rate unchanged at 4.25% (as expected)
Bank deposits with ECB reach yet another record high
Risk aversion picks up momentum due to China GDP outlook and Greek PSI deadline
Dealer chatter circulating that Greece Govt might extend deadline for PSI; Greece Govt denies such talk as deadline remains Thursday, March 8th
Equities:
FTSE 100 -1.1% at 5807, DAX -1.6% at 6757, CAC-40 -1.5% at 3433, IBEX-35 -1.9% at 8290, FTSE MIB -1.8% at 16,485, SMI -1% at 6094
European shares opened lower as investors continue to worry over China's growth prospects and Eurozone. Earlier chatter circulated that Greece Govt might extend deadline for PSI but the Greece government denied it and reaffirmed that the deadline was still March 8th. Furthermore, macroeconomic data continue to be disappointing in Europe.
Peugeot [UG.FR] fell during the session after announcing a capital raise of €1.0B and announcing it would not pay a dividend for 2011. RWE [RWE.DE] was up after EBITDA was higher than analysts' expectations even though net and revenue came in softer and company announced that it would cut its 2011 dividend.