SERBIA:

Major retailer SPAR "has plans for Serbia"
One of the biggest retail chains in Europe plans to come to Serbia, Bostjan Brantusa, SPAR's manager of expansion and development, has confirmed for B92.net. "Yes, SPAR has plans for Serbia," Brantusa told us on the margins of the CEE Property Forum in Vienna.
Source: b92

American real estate company Re/Max to arrive to Serbia
The American real estate company Re/Max (Real Estate Maximus) will officially open its office in Serbia on October 3 in Belgrade, the company announced. Founded in 1973 in Denver, Colorado, Re/Max operates exclusively as a franchise system, and in the Serbian market, it plans to cooperate with a large number of local agents and real estate agencies.
Source: Ekapija

Germany's Leoni to start production at 4th factory in Serbia in Feb
German cable and wiring systems manufacturer Leoni plans to start production at its new factory in Serbia's Kraljevo in February 2019, the managing director of Leoni's Serbian unit, Clemens Sachs, said. "Production should start already in February as we will build the first 6,500 square meters as early as this year," Sachs said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian public broadcaster RTS on Wednesday.
Source: SeeNews

REGION:

UMAR reduced GDP growth forecast for Slovenia in 2018 and 2019
Department for macro analysis at Slovenian Government (UMAR), reduced its GDP growth forecast for 2018 and 2019. According to the latest report, GDP should grow 4.4% in 2018, which is much lower vs. initially expected 5.1%. For the incoming 2019, this body expects growth rate of 3.7% vs. earlier 3.8%.
Source: SeeNews, Ilirika

INO:

S&P 500 snaps 4-day losing streak as Apple leads tech shares higher, European stocks close higher despite political uncertainty
The S&P 500 rose for the first time in five days on Thursday as gains in Apple led tech shares higher. The broad index rose 0.3 percent, snapping a four-day losing streak, as tech climbed half a percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, ended a three-day slide by rising 55 points. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, advancing 0.7 percent.
Apple rose 2.1 percent after J.P. Morgan initiated the stock with an overweight rating. The analyst sees strong growth for Apple's services offerings, noting the company is "transforming from a hardware company to a services company faster than investors had expected."
Amazon, meanwhile, gained 1.9 percent after Stifel hiked its price target on the stock to $2,525, implying a near 30 percent surge from Wednesday's close.
European stocks bounced back Thursday afternoon, as investors shook off concerns around trade and political uncertainty. The pan-European STOXX 600 provisionally ended 0.35 percent higher, with sectors and major bourses mostly positive. The FTSE 100 finished the day 0.5 percent higher while the main equity markets in Germany and France also made solid gains.
H&M posted its latest earnings update, which saw pretax profit for the third quarter miss expectations. Shares of the Swedish retailer, however, soared more than 11 percent, making it the top performer in Europe, after it reassured investors that it wouldn't need to cut costs further in order to shift unsold clothing.
Source: CNBC