- JP Morgan now sees ECB cutting rates
- Coeure says ECB measures have been critical
- Banks deposited 162.2bn euros at ECB yesterday

FTSE-100: 0.77%
Dax-30: 1.03%
Cac-40: 1.95%
FTSE Mibtel 30: 1.67%
Ibex 35: 1.66%
Stoxx 600: 1.31%

By the midday mark European equities were still registering a large bounce following the less aggressive remarks overnight from, or attributed to, some US Federal Reserve officials.

Also buoying shares was the very positive reading this morning on German companies' confidence levels from the country's famed IFO research institute. Worth highlighting as well were the robust readings seen in the survey's forward looking expectations gauge and in the sub-index for the manufacturing sub-sector.

Positive company news-flow

Air France-KLM was higher after announcing a narrower full-year operating following a capacity freeze that boosted average fares and on the back of headcount reductions.

Irish pharmaceuticals outfit Elan unveiled plans for a $1.0bn share repurchase program.

Italy's top audit court has ruled that the state's plan to loan €3.9bn to troubled lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is legitimate.

From a sector stand-point the best performance on the DJ Stoxx 600 was to be seen in the following industrial groups: Financial Services (2.15%), Construction&Materials (2.08%) and Basic Resources (1.89%).

Weaker than expected Eurozone services sector

The European Commission has lowered its forecasts for growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the Eurozone this year to -0.3% from 0.1% before.

Germany's IFO business confidence index rose to 107.4 points in February versus a reading of 104.3 for the month before (Consensus: 104.9).

The expectations gauge shot up to 104.6 from 101.4 in the month before.

ISAE's Italian consumer confidence index improved to 86.0 points in February after a reading of 84.7 for the previous month (Consensus: 84.6).

Consumer prices in Italy rose at a 2.2% year-on-year clip in January.

Dutch consumer spending fell by 1.0% month-on-month in December.

German gross domestic product fell at a 0.6% quarter-on-quarter rate in the last three months of 2012, as expected. Economic activity was weighed down by a drop in exports.

Other asset classes bounce back

The euro/dollar is now higher by 0.01% to the 1.3190 dollar mark.

Front month Brent crude futures are now bouncing back by 0.752 dollars to the 114.38 dollar per barrel mark on the ICE.



AB

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