- Italian unemployment shoots higher
- Weak Chinese data and worries over sequestration weigh on sentiment
- Banks deposit 153.7bn euros overnight at ECB

FTSE-100: -0.15%
Dax-30: -0.07%
Cac-40: -0.09%
FTSE Mibtel 30: -0.05%
Ibex 35: 0.13%
Stoxx 600: -0.51%

Eurozone equities have started the day slightly underwater following the lacklustre performance on Wall Street last night and on the back of weak manufacturing data out this morning in China.

The latter has heightened markets´ interest in Chinese policy-makers' recent signals of their intention to take further actions to cool their property market.

Acting as a backdrop, the looming start of cuts to US government spending - known as 'sequestration' - today is also weighing on sentiment. The question which traders must answer is when the cuts will bite enough so as to force Congress to reach an agreement.

Eventually, however, an accord of some sort seems likely as those same reductions in government outlays will eventually lead to the lay-off of air traffic controllers and food inspectors, amongst others.

Eurozone periphery yields are holding firmly lower at the moment.

All of the above comes ahead of a barrage of macroeconomic data releases yesterday.

Thales rides full-year results higher

French military electronics outfit Thales is rocketing higher after posting full-year profits which beat expectations.

Belgacom shares are off by 8% after its financial guidance fell short of forecasts.

Sergio Marchionne, the Chief Executive of both Fiat and its majority-owned Chrysler Group unit, said he sees a 50% chance that Chrysler will go public but would prefer that it be fully merged with Fiat.

French media giant Vivendi may freeze the sale of its Brazilian telecommunications unit GVT as bids are coming in at less than what was expected, Reuters reports.

From a sector stand-point the best performance on the DJ Stoxx 600 is now to be seen in the following industrial groups: Basic resources (-2.44%), Banks (-2.16%) and Insurance (-1.09%) (1.23%).

Italian unemployment shoots higher

Italy´s unemployment rate shot higher in January, reaching 11.7% after a reading of 11.3% in the month before.

Eurozone consumer price and unemployment figures are due to be released at 10:00.

The Markit Eurozone purchasing managers´ index for the month of February has come in at 47.9 (Consensus: 47.8), after a reading of 47.8 in the month before.

Other asset classes trading lower

The euro/dollar is now edging slightly lower, by 0.19%, to the 1.3040 dollar mark.

Front month Brent crude futures are now falling by 0.842 dollars to the 110.45 dollar per barrel level on the ICE.

AB

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