-Merkel rejects Eurobonds
-Spain wants to know how far ECB will go in purchases -SER
-IMF´s Lagarde admits Greece must do more
-Spanish bond auction results worse than expected

FTSE-100: 0.01%
Dax-30: -0.41%
Cac-40: -0.42%
FTSE-Mibtel 30: -0.39%
Ibex 35: 0.20%
Stoxx 600: -0.03%

European equities began the day on a mixed footing but have since turned lower, following the results of the latest Spanish Treasury note auctions this morning, which have come in a tad worse than the last time around. That as the markets wait for a decision by Spain on whether it believes it needs aid or not.

Not by coincidence, in remarks to Spanish broadcaster SER Spain´s Vice-President has said today that first -amongst other things- the country wants to know how far the European Central Bank (ECB) will go in its bond purchases before asking for any sort of aid. It would seem that the country is looking to exact the highest price possible in exchange for asking for help, although some market commentary holds that Spain´s Prime Minister is simply looking to reduce the political backlash that a European rescue might provoke.

That comes as as investors await the country´s 2013 budget this Thursday. Following that, on Friday, Oliver Wyman will release the results of its stress tests of the Spanish banking system.

Also worth mentioning, in a speech last night International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Director Christene Lagarde indicated that Spain´s labour market reforms will take until 2015 to have an effect. This, in part, as companies wait to see if there are any legal challenges to those reforms. Incidentally, that is precisely the case at the moment.

In a similar vein, the IMF´s Director admitted last night that the measures announced so far by Greece will not suffice to reign in its public deficit.

As an aside, and in response to political pressures, Portugal´s government yesterday indicated that it will replace projected wage cuts with tax increases.

Meanwhile, and on the corporate front, the worst performing sectors at the moment on the DJ Stoxx 600 are: Automobiles (-2.25%), Banks (-0.20%) and Utilities (-0.16%).

German consumer confidence steady

German consumer confidence index for the month of September has remained unchanged for October, at 5.9 points, as expected.

France´s business confidence index for the month of September has come in at 90, the same as last month´s reading (Consensus: 89).

Italy´s consumer confidence index for the month of September has come in at 86.2, versus 86 for the previous month (Consensus: 86.0).



Slight bounce in the single currency

The euro/dollar is now down by 0.21% to the 1.2904 dollar level.

Front month Brent crude futures are now rising by 0.588 dollars to the 110.47 dollar level on the ICE.



AB

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