-Markets take cue from Wall Street on Friday
-ECB President to speak to EU parliament this afternoon
-Majority of Germans do not support further aid for Greece -FT
-Schaeuble rejects ECB supervising all banks -Reuters
-Banks deposit €590bn overnight at ECB

FTSE-100: 0.65%
Dax-30: 0.38%
Cac-40: 0.55%
FTSE-Mibtel 30: 0.80%
Ibex 35: -0.07%
Stoxx 600: 0.54%

The main European equity benchmarks are still moving higher at midday, following Wall Street´s lead from last Friday. Those gains came in reaction to US Federal Reserve President Ben S.Bernanke´s speech at Jackson Hole (Wyoming) which seem to point to more quantitative easing measures to come.

In that same vein, investors seem undaunted by the bevy of weaker than expected economic data out in Asia overnight, in China, India and Australia.

Nevertheless, speaking on broadcaster Deutschlandfunk radio German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has warned against excessive expectations. "We have to be very careful that we don't raise false expectations," Schaeuble said. "It has to remain very clear, state debt can't be financed through monetary policy. Therefore we can't have a decision -we would think it very wrong- that's not covered by the ECB mandate," he added.

Not to be forgotten, Wall Street will remain closed today in observance of Labour Day, which ought to keep trading conditions subdued. However, volatility could rise towards the end of the week, as investors react to the European Central Bank´s and Bank of England´s rate-setting meetings, as well as the latest monthly employment data out Stateside on Friday.

Spain to inject up to €5bn into Bankia

Campari will purchase Lascelles deMercado for $414.8m in a bid to hasten its push into overseas markets.

Nokia is an outstanding gainer today, moving up now by 4.5%.

The Spanish government is expected to inject up to €5bn into failed lender Bankia, which has just reported a €4.45bn first half loss.

Fressenius Medical has abandoned its take-over offer for Rhone Klinikum.

From a sector stand-point the best performance on the DJ Stoxx 600 is now to be seen in shares of the following industrial groups: basic resources (1.62%), chemicals (0.97%) and food and beverage (0.92%).

Eurozone Manufacturing PMI slightly below expectations

Markit´s Eurozone purchasing managers´ index for the month of August retreated slightly, to 45.1 points from a preliminary reading of 45.3 and after July's reading of 44.

German new export orders dropped at their fastest rate since April 2009.

Other asset classes steady

The euro/dollar is now down by 0.03% to the 1.2580 dollar mark.

Front month Brent crude futures are rising by 0.087 dollars to the 114.67 dollar level on the ICE.

AB

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