SERBIA:

Serbia and Turkey to sign new free trade agreement
A new bilateral free trade agreement will be signed by Serbia and Turkey on January 30, Beta is reporting. The free trade agreement was initiated during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Serbia last October, and the signing on January 30 paves the way to ratification by the two states' parliaments and eventually its implementation, the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications announced in a press release. The agreement will, for the first time, allow Serbia duty-free exports to Turkey, of beef, raw and refined sunflower oil, sunflower seed and some milling products. In addition, the quotas for specific types of frozen fruit exports to Turkey will be doubled.
Source: B92

ENHL: Napred’s TOB towards dependent Energoprojekt’s units rejected by SEC due to inappropriate form
Napred’s TOB towards dependent Energoprojekt’s units rejected by SEC due to inappropriate form, local press reported. Namely, this is due to the fact that Napred has not delivered estimated fair value of targeted units, which as mandatory part of TOB elaborate. This was also the reason for SEC to revoke voting rights of Energoprojekt into its daughter units – Oprema, Industrija and Entel. As for remembrance, Napred managed to acquire majority stake at Energoprojekt in mid-2017. Now it holds 51.9% stake, while Serbia remained at 33.58% share.
Source: Beta, Ilirika

AERO: easyJet to launch flights between Belgrade and Berlin on August 10
The low-cost airline easyJet has announced the launch of new seasonal summer flights from the Berlin Tegel Airport to Belgrade and Ljubljana, EX-YU Aviation News reports. The airline will include three flights a week between the capitals of Germany and Slovenia in its schedule on August 9, whereas the flights between Belgrade and Berlin, at the same frequency, will be launched on August 10. From September, the number of flights on this route will increase to four per week.
Source: Ekapija

REGION:

Second day drop for SBITOP index in this week
Yesterday SBITOP index closed at 832,19 points, hence loosing 0,39 percent against previous close. Shares of Intereuropa and Zavarovalnica Triglav lost 0,96 and 0,63 percent respectively while the biggest gainers were shares of Telekom Slovenija with 0,46 percentage gain closing yesterdays day at 88 EUR per share.
Source: Ilirika

Optimistic sentiment at the start of 2018 in Slovenia consumer
According to the data of the Statistical office of Republic of Slovenia (SURS) the consumer sentiment is at its highest levels ever. The level of consumer confidence indicator for the country went up by one percentage point in comparison to the previous month achieving its highest level since the start of measuring in 1996. In the year-on-year comparison to the January of 2017 this indicator rose by 5 percentage points. The highest gains for the indicator in the monthly comparison are attributed to the optimistic expectations of the consumers regarding to economic state in the country (percentage raise of 4 points), economic well-being of households (percentage raise of 2 points) and number of unemployed (percentage raise of 1 point). Expectations regarding savings however went down by one percentage point in comparison to the previous month.
Source: Ilirika

INO:

Stocks drop the most since August, Dow loses 362 points, European markets close lower, Swatch up 5%
U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Tuesday, falling for a second day as the first major sell-off of the new year intensified. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 362.59 points to finish at 26,076.89, with UnitedHealth as the biggest decliner. The S&P 500 pulled back 1.1 percent to 2,822.43, while Nasdaq composite fell 0.9 percent to close at 7,402.48.
Long-dated Treasury yields climbed further on Tuesday, with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield trading near levels not seen since 2014, amid fears of higher inflation. The benchmark yield started the year trading around 2.4 percent.
Shares of UnitedHealth were the worst performers on the Dow, falling 4.4 percent. UnitedHealth fell after Amazon, J.P. Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway announced plans to partner on ways to cut health-care costs.
In economic news, the consumer confidence index in US rose again this month after its December decline. Index went from 123.1 to 125.4 points in January. Growth is mainly the result of an increase in consumer optimism future economic situation.
European stocks tumbled throughout Tuesday's trade. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.78 percent lower with all major bourses and most sectors in negative territory.
Swiss watchmaker Swatch topped the Stoxx 600, closing up over 5 percent. The company posted a 28 percent rise in its 2017 profit and forecast positive growth for the coming year. Meanwhile, Siemens Gamesa said Tuesday it had posted a first-quarter net loss of 35 million euros ($43.4 million) as a result of integration and restructuring costs. The wind-turbine maker forecast sales would stabilize in the Indian market in 2018, sending its stock to near the top of the benchmark. Some gains pared back in afternoon trade, with the company closing up 3.8 percent.
Seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.6 % in both the euro area (EA19) and in the EU during the fourth quarter of 2017, reports Eurostat. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 2.7 % in the euro area and by 2.6 % in the EU.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika