- Commerzbank drops 11 per cent after hiking capital
- Italian debt auction on tap
- Banks deposited 149.35bn euros overnight at ECB

FTSE-100: -0.74%
Dax-30: -0.11%
Cac-40: -0.46%
FTSE Mibtel 30: -0.49%
Ibex 35: -0.44%
Stoxx 600: -0.31%

European equity indices are moving lower following the retreat seen overnight in Asia and a rather lacklustre debt auction by the Italian Treasury this morning.

On a more anecdotal note, Italy´s financial media carries today several articles regarding the need for the country´s political establishment to 'bite the bullet' on macroeconomic reforms as well as voters´ responsibility for the current dead-lock. Not surprisingly this is much the same as can be read in other periphery countries these days.

Not to be missed, either, is the sharp fall in Commerzbank stock after the German lender announced a capital increase of 2.5bn euros, towards the high-end of the markets´ expectations.

In other European news, according to Le Figaro French President Hollande yesterday disclosed that the government´s spending deficit would be close to 3.7% of GDP this year, well above the 3.5% which economists at Unicredit had been forecasting until recently.

The German government will today set new targets for the 2014 federal budget and medium-term financial plans up to 2017. No net borrowing is foreseen for 2015 according to Barclays Research.

Acting as a backdrop, China´s central bank on Wednesday said that it will move to limit regions´ indebtedness.

Adecco misses

Retail giant Inditex this morning announced a 22% increase in profits for 2012 to €2.4bn ($3.13bn).

Staffing company Adecco´s fourth quarter profits have come in short of analyst expectations.

From a sector stand-point the worst performance is to be seen in the following sectors: Banks (-0.61%), Automobiles (-0.79%) and Retail (-0.79%).

Eurozone data due out

Eurostat will release its latest figures on Eurozone industrial production at 10:00.

Spain´s CPI rose to a 2.8% year-on-year rate in February (Consensus: 2.7%).

French consumer prices, on the other hand, declined to 1.0% from 1.2% in the same month.

Single currency indecisive at 1.30

The euro/dollar was off by -0.07%, to 1.3020.

Front month Brent crude futures were down by 0.137 dollars to the 109.80 dollar mark on the ICE.

AB

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