Daily News - 25.07.2018
Published: 25. 07. 2018

SLOVENIA

Stock market index up 0.27%

The SBI TOP index of blue chips on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange was up 0.27% to 887.80 points in Tuesday's trading, which saw only two items lose ground. The winner of the day was Sava Re, which was up 2.94% to EUR 17.50. Total turnover reached EUR 1.35m.
Source: STA

EU Commission happy with NLB privatisation talks outcome

The EU Commission has expressed satisfaction with the latest Slovenian steps towards the privatisation of NLB, Slovenia's largest bank. "We are happy with both, the cooperation with the authorities but also with the result that has been achieved," Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Tuesday.
Source: STA

Social security spending up by 1.8% in 2016

A total of EUR 9.4bn was earmarked for social security programmes in Slovenia in 2016, which was 1.8% more than in the year before. While social security spending was up in nominal terms, it decreased as a share of GDP decreased, according to the Statistics Office.
Source: STA

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

Dow jumps nearly 200 points as Google-parent Alphabet leads wave of strong earnings; European stocks higher on earnings, Peugeot soars 13%

Stocks traded higher Tuesday after strong financial results from Google-parent Alphabet led a wave of upbeat corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 150 points with Goldman Sachs and United Technologies leading the blue-chip names with gains of 1.1 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. The S&P 500 added 0.5 percent thanks to gain in materials, telecommunications and energy stocks. The Nasdaq Composite originally rose more than 1 percent to an all-time high, but later retreated into negative territory. At the latest reading, the index was down 0.3 percent.
Shares of agricultural and construction company Deere rose more than 3 percent Tuesday after CNBC reported that the Trump administration plans to offer billions of dollars in aid to farmers hit by tariffs on their goods.
European markets traded higher on Tuesday, bouncing back from the weak sentiment seen in the previous session. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up by 0.98 percent with almost every sector in the black. The benchmark reached a five-week intraday high at 388.74 points.
Earnings were the biggest driver on Tuesday. PSA Peugeot saw its shares touching its highest level since around the summer of 2008, after reporting its latest results. The company announced an increase in profit that beat expectations. The stocks were up 13.17 percent.
UBS shares also rose about 3.79 percent on Tuesday after reporting a 9 percent increase in net profit during the second quarter, to 1.28 billion Swiss francs ($1.29 billion), up from a year ago.
Source: CNBC

SERBIA

Serbian budget features EUR 450 million more than planned

The IMF's confirmation of the new arrangement with Serbia is very important news and a confirmation of the country's remarkable economic results, as well as proof that the public finances are consolidated, Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali stated. He told RTS that the arrangement with the IMF was advisory in character, which means that it doesn't entail any monetary funds, which Serbia doesn't need now anyway. In the first six months, we have a budget surplus of RSD 30.9 billion, which amounts to 1.4% of our GDP, and the plan was to have over 20 billion, which means that we have EUR 450 million more than planned. Let me remind that, in 2013, the budget deficit amounted to 6.6% – Mali said.
Source: Ekapija

Changes in FCA not to influence operations in Serbia? – Kragujevac union claims there's no reason to worry

The president of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Serbia, Zoran Markovic, does not expect the personal changes in the management of FCA to bring about the basic principles of operation, Politika writes. It has been announced that Fiat Chrysler will stay in Serbia, which means that a new contract will be signed and that there's no reason to worry – Markovic said, concerning Mike Manley's succeeding Sergio Marchionne as Fiat CEO.
Source: Ekapija

FDI inflow in Serbia in first five months of 2018 higher by 15.8%

Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali stated that, in the first five months of the current year, the inflow of foreign direct investments in Serbia increased by as much as 15.8% compared to the same period last year, also a record year with as much as EUR 2.6 billion. Discussing the country's good results on RTS' morning program, Mali reminded of the Eurostat report on the state of the economies of EU states and candidates, published on July 20.
Source: Ekapija. Ilirika

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