- French business confidence drops
- Draghi thinks darkest clouds have passed
- Banks deposited 203.6bn euros overnight at ECB

FTSE-100: 0.16%
Dax 30: 0.21%
Cac-40: -0.10%
FTSE Mibtel 30: -0.23%
Ibex 35: -0.27%
Stoxx 600: 0.02%

The main European equity indices are now registering mixed readings. Those come after large drop in Asia overnight but renewed advances on Wall Street. The latter were followed by positive results out of Google and IBM after the close of US trading.

In a very positive vein, Portugal is expected to sindicate a medium-term bond issue as a preliminary step before returning to the market.

Of interest as well, speaking overnight European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the 'darkest clouds' hanging over the Eurozone have receded.

Perhaps, but there are still those who see some risks. Thus, the head of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), Charles Dallara, stated this morning on Bloomberg that Cyprus could yet drag even the likes of Italy and Spain down should the nation's debt sustainability issues not be resolved.

Positive outlooks at SAP and Novartis

Siemens has warned of weakening demand for some of its products after posting a decline in new orders for its fiscal first quarter.

German software giant SAP said it expected operating profit for the current year to reach between €5.85-€5.95bn euros ($7.77-$7.91bn) at constant currencies, up from €5.21bnlast year.

French pharmaceuticals giant Novartis expects sales to return to growth from 2014.

From a sector stand-point the worst performance now on the DJ Stoxx 600 is to be seen in: Travel (-0.95%), Insurance (0.70%) and Media (-0.70%).

Large drop in French business confidence
The Italian current account moved into a surplus during the month of November, to the tune of €683m versus a deficit of €245m for the month before. The country's trade surplus with countries outside the European Union improved to €3.3bn in December against a reading of €1.9bn in the month before.

France's business confidence index for the month of January fell back sharply to a reading of 86, versus the previous month's reading of 89 (Consensus: 90).

Slight gains in other asset classes
The euro/dollar is now holding 0.11% higher at the 1.3337 mark.

Front month Brent crude futures are now gaining by 0.036 to the 112.46 dollar mark on the ICE.



AB

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