INO:
Dow and S&P 500 dip as investors weigh risk of possible US-Iran conflict; European stocks saw light losses
Stocks wavered on Tuesday as Wall Street assessed the growing geopolitical risks stemming from U.S.-Iran tensions along with better-than-expected data on the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 119.70 points lower, or 0.4% at 28,583.68. The S&P 500 pulled back 0.3% to 3,237.18. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day just below the flatline at 9,068.58.
Micron jumped more than 8% while Western Digital surged 6.8% after an analyst at Cowen upgraded the stocks to outperform from market perform, citing a potential recovery in the memory chip market. Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase were downgraded by a UBS analyst, sending their shares down 0.7% and 1.7%, respectively. The analyst said investors should wait for a better entry point on Bank of America. As for J.P. Morgan, the analyst noted “the bar has been raised for further outperformance.”
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was provisionally 0.3% lower at the closing bell, with tech stocks up more than 1.3% while oil and gas stocks gave back 0.5%, having previously surged on the back of U.S.-Iran escalations.
British luxury carmaker Aston Martin plunged more than 16% after issuing a profit warning on Tuesday morning.
Shares of UBS rose by 2.6% after it was reported that the lender would cut up to 500 private banking jobs as part of a business overhaul.
In terms of data, euro zone inflation picked up by 1.3% in December as expected, compared to 1.0% in November, but is expected to dip again at the start of 2020, according to Eurostat. Inflation remains well below the European Central Bank (ECB) target of close to, but below, 2%.
Source: CNBC
SERBIA:
Serbia's budget surplus at 62.2 bln dinars in January-November 2019
In the period from January to November 2019, Serbia's budget saw a 62.2 bln dinar surplus, the Ministry of Finance said Monday. Revenues totalled 1,153.5 bln dinars and expenditures were at 1,091.3 bln dinars, it said. In November alone, a 2.5 bln dinar budget deficit was registered. November revenues totalled 105.6 bln dinars, with tax revenues accounting for 89.5 bln dinars. VAT made up most of the tax revenues (45.3 bln dinars), followed by excise taxes (26.5 bln dinars). Non-tax revenues amounted to 14.8 bln dinars while revenues from donations totalled 1.3 bln dinars. Expenditures stood at 108.1 bln dinars, the ministry said.
Source: Tanjug
TurkStream gas to arrive in second half of 2020
The first quantities of TurkStream gas will start flowing through the trunk gas pipeline in Serbia in the second half of this year, most likely in October, at the start of the next gas season, Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic announced at the weekend. The laying of the 403 km gas pipeline in Serbia is finished, Antic told Tanjug. What remains to be done is to complete the measuring stations and a large compression station near Zabari, northeastern Serbia, which will make the gas pipeline fully functional, he said.
Source: Tanjug
Slightly over 70 companies remain to be privatized in Serbia
There are slightly over 70 companies remaining to be privatized in Serbia, but around 30 of them cannot be subject to advertising and privatization due to unresolved property-legal relations, court procedures or other problems, says the state secretary at the Ministry of Economy, Dragan Stevanovic. When it comes to the sector of privatization and bankruptcy proceedings, we have made some serious progress – Stevanovic told Tanjug. He announced that the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency would continue selling companies' property in 2020 and said that there had been more than 100 ads in 2019 and that the funds realized through the sale of bankruptcy debtors were measured in billions of dinars.
Source: Ekapija