Big Gains For Inditex, Bund Yield Jumps Above 1%

Big Gains For Inditex (MADRID:ITX)
Inditex Group, which owns the popular chain store Zara, jumped by 28% in the first quarter as the company said today in a statement.

The increased sales in the stores run by the company around the world and the weakening of the euro boosted the profitability of the Spanish group.

Specifically, in the quarter February - April 2015, net income of Inditex stood at €521 million compared with the €406 million a year earlier. Sales rose by 17% to €4.37 billion.

The results surpassed indeed the forecasts of economists, who had expected profits of €509 million and sales of €4.33 billion.

Germany: 10-year Bond Yield Jumps Above 1%
German 10-year bond yield jumps above 1% for first time since September 2014, and the benchmark yield rose 5 basis points to 0.995%, while earlier it had reached 1.005%, according to Bloomberg.

It is noted that last April, the German benchmark yield on 10-year bond had fallen to a record low of 0.05%, with many investors believing that it was only a matter of time before it would go into negative territory.

The German government bonds decline for a fourth consecutive day, heading for the biggest negative streak in more than a month.

It is noted that the German government will auction €5 billion ($5.7 billion) of notes due in June 2017.

Liikanen: Monetary Policy Will Keep Steady Course
Erkki Liikanen, member of the European Commission gave the assurance at a press conference in Finland that the monetary policy of the European Central Bank will keep a steady course.

The European banker said that the ECB's bond buying program will proceed as planned, and assured that monetary policy will keep a steady course.

As he explained, "full implementation of the ECB's monetary policy measures will provide the necessary support for the euro area recovery and contribute to a sustained return of inflation rates towards the price stability target.”

Liikanen, who is the governor of the Bank of Finland, made the revision of the financial estimations of the Nordic country. According to the new estimations, the Finnish GDP will grow by 0.2% in 2015, 1.2% in 2016 and by 1.3% in 2017.