Banking Sector In Europe Under Pressure

In absence of the American players on Monday, the European stock indices finished the trading session without any significant development.

From the macroeconomic statistics published yesterday, it should be noted that the price index of producers of Germany for December grew by 0.1%, at average forecasts of 0.0%. Thus, in comparison with data from the similar time period last year, decrease of the indicator made 0.5%, as expected.

As a result, the index of Great Britain, FTSE 100, increased by 0.11%, French CAC40 lost 0.11% and the German DAX went to a minus by 0.28%. The regional STXE 600 indicator, in turn, decreased by 0.1% and was closed on a level of 335.5 points.

Worse off than the other sectors of the market were shares of the banking sector. So, the shares of Commerzbank AG O.N., (CZB), Credit Suisse Group, (CS) and ICAP, (IAP) decreased by 4.5%, 2.5% and 4.3% respectively. Additionally to that, market capitalization of the largest creditor of Europe, Deutsche Bank AG NA O.N., (DB), decreased by 5.4%, after it reported that the loss before payment of taxes in the fourth quarter made 1.15 billion Euros. Analysts, in turn, predicted profit at the level of 628.5 million Euros.

The background this morning looks rather positive: futures for the American indices add 0.5%, bull moods prevail in the Asian-Pacific, with Japanese Nikkei increasing by 1.4%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng adds 0.6%, and the Chinese Shanghai Composite grew by 0.7%. The positive situation is mainly due to the statement from the Bank of China, and their willingness to provide additional liquidity to small and large banks of the country.

The situation on the commodities market also remains the same, and there have not been any strong changes for the last few days. Brent is increasing by 0.19%, traded on a level of 106.55$ per barrel, WTI is down by 0.34%, on a level of 94.27$ per barrel. Gold adds in value 0.02%, traded on the level of 1252.10$ per troy ounce, and silver is down by 0.49% at the level of 20.20$ per troy ounce.

In America, the large banks already published their reports, and this week, the market focus will be on papers of the hi-tech companies and retailers. Figures from Microsoft Corporation, (MSFT), International Business Machines, (IBM), Starbucks Corporation, (SBUX) and Netflix Inc, (NFLX) are expected. Today, Johnson & Johnson, (JNJ) and Verizon Communications Inc, (VZ) will publish reports. As for the most important statistics today, it is worth paying attention to the publication of the index of activity of ZEW across Germany, whereby a decrease from 62 points to 61.5 points is expected.