SERBIA:

AERO: Potential signing of air transport agreement between Serbia and Qatar
Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic discussed the signing of an agreement on air transport and infrastructure with Ambassador of Qatar to Serbia Mubarak bin Fahad Al-Thani. The relations between Serbia and Qatar are constantly improving, as is the cooperation with the national airline of Qatar. Serbia has approved seven direct lines a week between Belgrade and Doha, and I believe that we will soon sign an agreement on air transport as well, which would further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries in this field – Mihajlovic said, as reported on the website of the Government of Serbia.
Source: Ekapija

AIKB: NBS withdraws authorization to AIK Bank for acquisition of Gorenjska
The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has withdrawn the authorization it gave to AIK Bank for the acquisition of Slovenia’s Gorenjska Banka, as the regular control procedure has shown irregularities in the operations of the Serbian bank, the NBS confirmed for Tanjug. Potential new authorization would require another application by AIK, whereby the NBS would, as always, evaluate formal and essential meeting of all the requirements proscribed by the law, the central bank of Serbia says. As they remind, the acquisition of a share in another financial institution, up to the defined limit, including the acquisition of financial institutions in other countries, requires approval by the NBS, which is conditioned on a positive assessment of the meeting of all the requirements.
Source: Ekapija

Serbia's central govt debt falls to 61.5% of GDP at end-2017
Serbia's central government debt has decreased to EUR 23.5bn at the end of 2017 from EUR 24.8bn a year earlier, according to finance ministry data. The debt was equivalent to 61.5% of the projected 2017 gross domestic product (GDP), down from 71.9% at the end of 2016, the finance ministry said in a public debt report published on its website.
Source: Seenews

REGION:

Correction of SBITOP index last week, Slovenian gaining in terms of Economic Freedom
SBITOP index dropped for 1,3 percent last week. Correction in the market effected all stocks of the index outside of Petrol. The biggest declines experienced the stocks of Luka Koper (-5.15%), Cinkarna (-3,17%) and Intereuropa (-2,88%). Apart from this, Slovenia ended at 64. place in the Economic Freedom Index by the Heritage Foundation. The placement represents a 33-place increase in a single year. Top spots are held by Hong Kong, Singapore in New Zealand.
Source: Ilirika

INO:

Dow lost 2.54% on Friday, European close lower, Deutsche Bank ends down more than 5%
Last week markets across the globe experienced a sell-off which amounted to a correction of 4 percent level for the US markets last week, while European markets lost more than 3 percent and Asian more than two.
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report sent interest rates higher. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 2.54% to close at 25,520.96, capping off the index's sixth-largest points decline ever. The S&P 500 fell 2.1 percent and finished, while Nasdaq composite plunged 1.96 percent to 7,240.95 as a decline in Apple and Alphabet offset a strong gain in Amazon shares.
Wall Street also looked to the release of key corporate earnings. Exxon Mobil reported weaker-than-expected earnings on Friday, sending its stock lower. Tech giant Apple reported better-than-expected quarterly results. But the stock fell 4.4 percent after the company said it expects profit margins of 38 percent to 38.5 percent, tighter than the expected 38.9 percent. Apple also reported lighter-than-expected iPhone sales for its previous quarter.
Google-parent Alphabet also reported quarterly results, with earnings per share missing expectations. The company's stock dropped 5.3 percent on the back of the report. Amazon, meanwhile, surged to an all-time high on the back of its earnings report. The e-commerce giant said its Amazon Web Services sales — a key component for the company — hit $5.11 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected AWS revenue of $4.97 billion.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed Friday provisionally 1.38 percent lower with every sector trading in negative territory. The index recorded its biggest weekly loss since November 2016 mainly driven by banking stocks and higher yields.
Deutsche Bank reported a net loss of about 497 million euros for 2017 — its third annual consecutive loss. The stock fell more than 11 percent over the week. Caixa Bank also fell heavily after reporting its latest numbers. The Spanish bank reported a quarterly net profit that was down by 70 percent from the third quarter.
Autos were another poorly performing sector. This was after Finnish police decided to start a criminal investigation into the tire-maker Nokian Tyres for alleged product test manipulation. The stock dropped to the bottom of the European benchmark, finishing down by 7 percent.
AstraZeneca saw sales falling 5 percent in 2017 but it foresees a small increase in drug sales this year. The stock initially fell but then closed higher by more than 3 percent on the promise of growth.
One of the leading economic research institutes in Europe, the Ifo Institute, reports that German companies are planning to hire more staff. The Ifo Employment Barometer rose to 113.5 points in December from 113.2 points in November. This marks a new historical record high. Ifo institute continues to report that manufacturers plan to significantly increase their staff numbers and the barometer also hit a new record high in the sector.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika