SLOVENIA
Janša says loan guarantees sufficient for now, long-term prospects too uncertain
Opening a two-day emergency session of parliament on Tuesday, PM Janez Janša said the EUR 2 billion in guarantees for loans from commercial banks being provided in the second coronavirus stimulus package would suffice for the short-term, while nobody could tell if this will also be enough in the medium and long term. (STA)
Slovenia's deficit to exceed 8% in 2020
Slovenia is facing a general government deficit of 8.1% of GDP instead of a 1% surplus this year, according to changes to 2020 budget framework made by the government. The Fiscal Council believes that the temporary divergence from the medium-term fiscal objective is acceptable due to the coronavirus crisis. (STA)
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Stocks hit session highs, with Dow up 350 points on hope of economy reopening; European markets close higher as investors look for further lockdown easing; BELEX15 flat; NIS ends 1Q20 with net loss
Stocks rose on Monday as investors mulled the possibility of reopening the economy after the coronavirus outbreak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 363 points higher, or 1.5%. The S&P 500 gained 1.5% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.2%. (Click here for the latest market news.)
JPMorgan Chase and Disney were the best-performing Dow stocks, rising more than 4% each. The financials sector led the S&P 500 higher, climbing more than 3%. Citigroup shares rallied more than 6% while Wells Fargo and Bank of America were each up over 4%.
European markets closed higher Monday as investors await central bank meetings this week that could decide further stimulus measures to reboot economies deeply damaged by the coronavirus pandemic. The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally closed up by 1.6%, with autos adding 4.6% to lead gains as all sectors and major bourses traded in positive territory.
Corporate earnings remain high on the trading agenda in Europe. Deutsche Bank shares surged 12.7% after the German lender said it expects to report net income of 66 million euros ($71.56 million) for the first quarter of 2020, compared with 201 million euros in the first quarter of 2019.
Adidas on Monday predicted that sales will fall by 40% in the second quarter, as the impact of the coronavirus takes hold. The German sportswear giant on Monday reported a 19% decline in net sales for the first quarter from the year before. Adidas shares were marginally higher.
German pharmaceutical company Bayer saw its shares gain over 5% after the coronavirus pandemic pushed its first-quarter sales and earnings higher.
Serbian BELEX15 ended daily season basically flat. Only there stocks were traded, out of which NIS generated almost the entire trade volume of RSD 4.6m. The stock was up 0.38%. As it was already announced this company reported 1Q20 numbers, where can see the quarter was ended with RSD 1.1bn net loss as EBITDA was down 18%, while the company also faced higher depreciation costs and financial loss. These results are at first place affected by ongoing crisis with international oil market and drop in consumption due to covid19 crisis. Komercijana is to present its 2019 annual report on 30th April. (CNBC, Ilirika)
