SLOVENIA
FDI in Slovenia up 5% in 2019
Foreign direct investment in Slovenia amounted to EUR 16 billion at the end of 2019, a 4.9% increase on 2018. Meanwhile, Slovenia's outbound FDI rose by 8.7% to EUR 6.6 billion, show data released by Banka Slovenije on Monday. (STA)
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Nasdaq closes lower to end its worst week since March as tech continues to struggle; European markets close slightly higher with Brexit standoff in focus; Altice Europe up 24%; BELEX15 ended Friday with no changes; Annual inflation in August at 1.9%
The Nasdaq Composite fell in another volatile session on Friday as the continuing tech sell-off drove the benchmark to its worst week in months. The Nasdaq closed 0.6% lower at 10,853.55. At its session high, the composite rose as much as 1%; it was down more than 1.7% at one point as well. Apple dropped 1.3% and Amazon fell by 1.9%. Facebook, Alphabet and Microsoft were all down.
The S&P 500 eked out a small gain after gyrating between solid gains and steep losses. The broader-market index closed about 0.1% higher at 3,340.97. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 131.06 points, or 0.5%, at 27,665.64. The 30-stock average was up 294.24 points, or 1.1%, at its session high and fell as much as 86.46 points.
The Labor Department said Friday its U.S. consumer price index rose by 0.4% in August. Economists polled by Reuters expected an increase of 0.3%. That larger-than-expected advance was driven the biggest cost increase for used cars and trucks in more than 51 years.
European markets closed slightly higher on Friday as investors monitored tense negotiations between the U.K. and the European Union. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up by 0.1%, with basic resource shares up 2.4% to lead the gains while banks on the other hand fell over 1.6%.
Altice Europe shares surged more than 24% after the French telecoms firm agreed around a 2.5 billion euro ($2.95 billion) takeover offer with its founder and majority shareholder, who plans to delist the company.
German braking system manufacturer Knorr-Bremse fell 7% after majority shareholder Heinz Hermann Thiele sold 10 million shares in the company.
BELEX15 was with no change as active stock were also with no material price movements. NIS was the most active with RSD 6.1m in volume, while all other names were with very miserable volumes. We saw no major corporate news.
According to SORS data, y-o-y inflation stayed stable, measuring 1.9% in August, which is in line with NBS expectations and close to the July level. In monthly terms, consumer prices edged down 0.1% in August, driven mainly by the lower prices of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat. Higher prices of travel packages and petroleum products worked in the opposite direction. Core inflation (CPI excluding the prices of food, energy, alcohol and cigarettes) remained stable, at 1.9% y-o-y in August. (CNBC, ILIRIKA)
