SLOVENIA
Retail sales down by a tenth in January-June
Retail sales in Slovenia declined by 9.6% year-on-year from January to June as the coronavirus epidemic shut down most stores for several weeks in spring. The figures for June suggest the sector is slowly picking up. (STA)
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Dow falls nearly 200 points, suffering first negative week in four as Intel slumps; European stocks close lower as U.S.-China tensions weigh on sentiment; Centrica up 16%; BELEX15 up 2.2% as Belgrade Airport soars
Stocks fell on Friday as Wall Street wrapped up a volatile week of trading, with tech shares struggling and U.S.-China tensions rising. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 182.44 points, or 0.6%, to 26,469.89. The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, or 20.03 points, to 3,215.63, and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.9%, or 98.24 points, to 10,363.18.
Dow-component Intel plunged more than 16% after the chipmaker offered disappointing guidance for the third quarter and delayed the release of its next-generation chips.
European markets closed lower on Friday as escalating diplomatic tensions between the world’s two largest economies continued to weigh on sentiment.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally ended 1.7% lower, with tech stocks tumbling 3.8% to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses slid into negative territory.
Flash Markit PMI (purchasing managers’ index) readings on Friday suggested that euro zone business activity rebounded in July, coming in at 54.8 and indicating that economic activity grew for the first time since February.
BELEX15 was up huge 2.2%, as Belgrade Airport was up 6.5% and Komercijana added 4.5%. The most active name was Metalac with RSD 4.9m in volume. Overall trade volume remains very low. Energoprojekt reported that its GA decoded to retain all profit for 2019 year, thus there will be no divided payment again. NIS is about to report 2Q numbers on Wednesday. (CNBC, ILIRIKA)
