- ZEW survey expected
- Central banks in focus
- Spain to auction short-term debt
- Spanish 10 year bond yields down by 1bp to 5.22 per cent
- Banks deposited 143.5bn euros overnight at the ECB

FTSE-100: 0.16%
Dax-30: 0.58%
Cac-40: 0.82%
FTSE Mibtel 30: 0.61%
Ibex 35: 0.39%
Stoxx 600: 0.43%

European equities were moving moderately higher in early trading, in what was expected to be a light day in terms of the flow of economic data.

Investors, however, continued to be very focused on the rumblings in the currency markets and remarks from the world's main economic policymakers. Market commentary was particularly heavy in reaction to the remarks from the European Central Bank President's, Mario Draghi, yesterday, to the effect that currency moves could lead to downside inflation risks.

For some observers the above means that at a given point Draghi could decide to cut rates in order to alleviate that pressure.

Danone shares rise sharply

The world's biggest food company, Nestle, has removed beef pasta meals from sale in Italy and Spain after finding traces of horse DNA.

Spanish motorway operator Abertis's full-year profits came in as expected.

Investors are cheering French food group Danone's announcement of lay-offs to counter a fall in profitability.

The Spanish Treasury is to sell up to €4bn in 3 month and 9 month T-bills this morning.

From a sector stand-point the best performers today are: Food&beverage (0.88%), Chemicals (0.80%) and Travel&Leisure (0.70%).



German data on tap

The German ZEW Institute's economic confidence index for the month of February will be released at 10:00.

Other asset classes mixed
The euro/dollar is now flat at the 1.3357 dollar mark.

Front month Brent crude futures are now falling slightly, by 0.077 dollars to the 117.29 dollar per barrel mark on the ICE.



AB

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