After nearly a decade of economic and political turmoil, Europe is still struggling to regain stability. The primary question about Europe’s future remains unanswered: Will the eurozone ever be able to flourish without external support?
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | Tens of thousands of people protested in Athens on Sunday in what was the largest rally the Greek capital has seen for some time. They were there to send a message regarding the meaning of a Greek word: Macedonia.
The Spanish government has this week officially announced the candidacy of Economy Minister Luis de Guindos for the Vice-Presidency of the ECB, substituting the Portuguese Vitor Constancio. De Guindos already tried to move to Brussels as a substitute for Dijsselbloem at the head of the Eurogroup. But the bet didn’t turn out well.
Intermoney | Four months after the elections, Angela Merkel and Martin Schulz sealed a deal on Wednesday to remould the “grand coalition”; the end of the political uncertainty in Germany will translate into greater stability for the Eurozone economy.
In a preliminary analysis of European companies’ results, consensus-beating EPS and higher-than-forecast sales stand out.
Deutsche Bank’s shares fell 6.21% on Friday, after the bank unveiled weak Q4 figures and a third consecutive year of losses. Germany’s biggest bank reported net losses of 497 million euros in 2017, following losses of 1.35 billion in 2016 and 6.77 billion in 2015.
ArcelorMittal, the leading global integrated steel and mining firm, said it posted net profit of 4.568 billion dollars in 2017 (3.670 billion euros), 157% up from a year earlier. It will also pay a dividend again for the first time since 2015.
Portugal’s amazing economic recovery (contrary to the general consensus two years ago that it would be the next country to fail amid the sovereign debt crisis) is now reflected in its investment grade (an investment grade rating except from Moody’s). Investors are buying both shares and bonds.
The Euro was by far the best performing G10 currency in 2017, returning 15 % over the period. ETF Securities’ analysts expect that the Euro should end Q1 2018 under the 1.20 level, broadly in line with Bloomberg consensus estimates of 1.19. However, they think “this displays the downside risk to the Euro remain elevated”.