Market information

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The European Central Bank (ECB) bought 635 million EUR in government bonds of countries affected by the current euro crisis. This figure illustrates the relatively calm week on the bond market for the bonds of the affected countries. Two weeks ago, the ECB bought 3.66 billion EUR in bonds and 8.58 billion EUR in the week before that.

The global economy will weaken further according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD calculates the indicator (Composite Leading Indicators) that indicates the direction of the expected economic development for the next three months. The indicator for the world economy fell 0.3 points compared to the latest figures published in September 2011. The indicator remained with 100.1 points above the threshold of 100 points, which is the border between economic growth and economic contraction. The sub-indicator for the euro zone fell 0.7 points to 98.5, the indicator for the Netherlands fell 0.6 points to 99.1.

Yesterday the Dow Jones closed 1.34% lower at 12,021.39. The S& P500 lost 1.49% and closed at 1,236.47, the Nasdaq closed at 2,612.26 with a loss of 2.31%. The AEX in Amsterdam lost 2.36% and closed at 297.37 points

The 6M Euribor remained unchanged at 1.68%. The 10Y Swap decreased by 4 basis point to 2.57%.

In the attachment below, today’s market data on money and capital market rates as well as other rates are presented. For more history of these rates or other rates feel free to ask: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Download market data

Monday, December 12, 2011

Credit rating agency Moody's announced that it will reconsider the credit ratings of all EU countries. According to Moody’s, the agreement of the EU summit did not provide fundamentally new measures and therefore the risks for cohesion of the Euro zone remain. If the conditions in money markets do not stabilize in the foreseeable future, the ratings of all EU countries will be reviewed. Moody's will decide upon this matter in the first quarter of 2012.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) warned Sunday that banks may cause a new credit crunch because they act too risk-averse. The last months, banks frequently deposit large amounts of money at the European Central Bank instead of lending this to other banks. Reason for this is that banks are afraid that it will be difficult to get the money back.

Russia fears that oil prices will fall substantially as a result of the current debt crisis. The Russian Ministry of Economy expects that the price of a barrel Brent oil will decline in the coming period from approximately USD 108 to USD 60-80. The fall in oil prices in 2008 led Russia into a recession for the first time in 10 years. The expectation of an economic growth of 3.7% in 2012 is still maintained. Economic growth in Russia for this year is expected to be 4.2%.

The president of the Chinese central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, indicated Saturday that China supports the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to decrease the risks in the financial sector in China. The IMF recently indicated that the Chinese government has too much influence over banks and regulators which causes the financial sector to make decisions too often based on political considerations rather than economic considerations. The IMF also recommended to loosen the policy regarding the exchange rate of the Yuan. Xiaochuan said that the warnings of the IMF are appropriate and that it is important for China to adhere to international standards.

The 6M Euribor decreased with 2 basis points to 1,68%. The 10Y Swap increased with 7 basis points to 2,61%.

Download market data

Friday, December 09, 2011

This morning, the EU leaders announced that the permanent European emergency fund for European countries in difficulties (ESM) will be implemented in July 1012. Additionally the countries of the European Union decided that a stricter compliance of the budgetary rules is necessary to tackle the debt crisis. This is to be achieved by automatic penalties and appointing a budget Commissioner. How the leaders are going to change the European Convention, is still unclear. Several countries, including Great Britain, are not in favor of radical changes and have pulled back from the discussion about drastic changes during the eurotop in Brussels.

Friday morning, the EU leaders have also announced that the countries of the European Union will give 200 billion Euro to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This will enable the IMF to help countries in the Euro-zone.

Yesterday the ECB reduced its interest rate by 0.25 percentage point to 1%. The ECB further decreased its expectation for economic growth in 2012. Earlier this year an economic growth of 0.4 à 2,2% was expected. Now the ECB predicts that the economy of the euro zone will move between a decrease of 0.4% and a growth of 1%. Additionally, the ECB announced that they will help banks through the provision of loans with a maturity of 3 years. All requests for credits will be granted to prevent a new credit crisis.

The 6M Euribor remained unchanged at 1.70%. The 10Y Swap decreased by 13 basis points to 2.54%.

Download market data

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Today, the European Central Bank (ECB) will have a monetary meeting in which it will decide on its key interest rates. The current refinancing rate of the ECB is 1.25%. Analysts expect the ECB will cut its refinancing rate by 0.25% to 1.00%. In addition, also the Bank of England (BoE) will take a decision on its monetary policy. It is expected that the BoE will maintain its official bank rate at 0.5%.

This evening the 27 leaders of the European Union will gather in Brussels for the two days EU summit. The general view is that this summit should deliver strong agreements on stricter rules concerning the government budgets of the EU member states. Aforementioned is an absolute prerequisite for the ECB to intervene in the financial markets, according to analyst.

The Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) publishes this morning the Dutch inflation rate for November. Analysts expect that the Dutch inflation in November was 2.6% on an annually basis. This is the same rate as in October.

The 6M Euribor decreased by 1 basis point to 1.70%. The 10Y Swap decreased by 5 basis points to 2.67%.

Download market data

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

In the run-up to next Friday’s European Union summit, EU President Van Rompuy sent a proposal to all 27 Heads of Government. He calls for minor adjustments in the EU-Treaty compared to the larger scale amendments that Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy presented last Monday. A large-scale Treaty amendment with automatic sanctions would be time-consuming, according to Van Rompuy.

In his proposal, Van Rompuy does not say anything about changes in the European rescue fund. He hopes that the IMF and the ECB will play a more active role in helping the EU countries. The ECB must, according to van Rompuy, intervene more in the market for government bonds.

The Euro crisis and the stagnation of the world economy also affect Brazil. Brazil, which is the largest emerging market in Latin American, sees its Gross Domestic Product contracted compared with the previous quarter. Especially the Brazilian consumption is really slowing down.

Yesterday the markets on Wall Street remained quiet after the news of a possible down grading of 15 European countries. The Dow Jones index won 0.4% and the S&P 500 finished 0.1% in the plus. The AEX also reacted calmly to the news of S&P and closed with a loss of 0.1%. The Midkap-Smallcap indices ended with a loss of 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. The markets in Asia did do a bit better; the Japanese Nikkei ended 0.9% higher.

The 6M Euribor increased by 1 basis point to 1.72%. The 10Y Swap decreased by 1 basis points to 2.71%.

Download market data

Page 9 of 107 pages
« First < 7 8 9 10 11 > Last »