SLOVENIA
Erjavec announces motion of no confidence in govt by year's end
After meeting representatives of the informal KUL coalition on Tuesday, Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) leader Karl Erjavec announced that a motion for a constructive vote of no-confidence in the government would be filed next week or by the end of the year. He expects that the required 46 MP votes will have been secured by then. (STA)
NLB's takeover of Serbian bank about to be completed
NLB, Slovenia's largest bank, has obtained all the required permits to take over an 83% stake in Komercijalna Banka in line with the February contract, NLB said in a press release on Tuesday. (STA)
Consumers bit more confident as year ends
Slovenia's consumer confidence has improved somewhat this month after three consecutive months of decline. However, the respective indicator is still 19 percentage points down year-on-year with data from the Statistics Office showing Slovenian consumers have not been as pessimistic as this year since 2013. (STA)
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
S&P 500 falls for a third day even after Congress passes long-awaited Covid stimulus deal; European stocks close higher despite concerns over new coronavirus strain; BELEX15 up 0.22%
The S&P 500 fell for a third straight session on Tuesday even after Congress approved a long-delayed coronavirus relief package.
The broad equity benchmark dipped 0.2%, or 7.66 points, to 3,687.26 in relatively thin trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 200.94 points, or 0.7%, to 30,015.51. The Nasdaq Composite eked out a 0.5% gain to close at 12,807.92, a new record. The tech-heavy index was supported by a 2.9% jump in Apple shares amid investor enthusiasm around its reported foray into self-driving vehicles.
On the data front, a final reading showed third-quarter gross domestic product grew 33.4% on an annualized basis, compared to 33.1% expected. Meanwhile, U.S. consumer confidence fell for the second straight month in December and missed expectations.
European shares closed higher Tuesday afternoon, attempting to recover from a brutal sell-off in the previous session, despite concerns over a new coronavirus strain in the U.K. European shares closed higher Tuesday afternoon, attempting to recover from a brutal sell-off in the previous session, despite concerns over a new coronavirus strain in the U.K.
BELEX15 was up 0.22% as we saw 0.5-1% gains at NIS, Belgrade Airport, Metalac and Energoprojekt. The most active name was NIS with RSD 14m in volume. (CNBC, ILIRIKA)
