SERBIA:

Global Competitiveness Report 2018 – Serbia makes progress owing to more favourable Mmcroeconomic environment and financial stability
According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2018 of the World Economic Forum, Serbia has improved its competitive position for the third year in a row. It currently takes the 65th place among 140 countries. As in 2017, progress was achieved under the Macroeconomic stability pillar within both pillar indicators – inflation and debt dynamics. In terms of inflation, Serbia kept the first position, shared with 73 countries
Source: NBS

NBS: Serbian financial, corporate sectors expect stable inflation
Serbia's financial and corporate sectors expect inflation to remain within the 1.5%-4.5% target band in the short and medium term, the country's central bank, NBS, said. One-year-ahead inflation expectations of the finance sector stood at 3.0% and of the corporate sector amounted to 2.6%, NBS said in on Wednesday in the September edition of its monthly survey on inflation expectations. In September, one-year ahead inflation expectations of households came in at 5.0%, while the short-term forecast of trade unions was 4.05%. Looking two years ahead, the finance and corporate sectors expect 2.8% and 2.6% inflation, respectively, NBS said.
Source: SeeNews

Delta holding is the largest business system in Serbia
The biggest holding system in Serbia is Delta company, which accounts 55 daughter units and one parent company, out of which 17 of the are active abroad, APR said. Second rank in Meat Industry Matijevic, with 41 daughter units, while third rank is held by MK group, with 32 dependent units.
Source: Beta, Ilirika

REGION:

Galloping fuel prices in Serbia
Retail fuel prices in Serbia have been going up almost on the daily prices with the price of diesel reaching an incredible 175 dinar per litre. Petrol station owners claim that the reasons for this are higher global crude oil prices on stock exchanges and the low water level of the Danube, and add that they could not predict how far the prices would go. It is very difficult to estimate at the moment whether the price hikes will stop. Nebojsa Atanackovic, one of the owners of AD Nafta, says that he hopes the newest trend of high fuel prices would stop and that the there would be no more price hikes for the foreseeable time.
Source: Serbian monitor

INO:

Dow falls more than 300 points as the market's October struggles persist, European markets close lower as Brexit talks rumble on, Carrefour shares up 9%
Stocks fell sharply on Thursday, adding to already steep losses for the month of October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 327.23 points to 25,379.45, led by declines in Caterpillar. The S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent to 2,768.78 as the consumer discretionary and tech sectors lagged. The Nasdaq Composite pulled back 2.1 percent to close at 7,485.14. Overseas, China's Shanghai Composite dropped sharply. Among the reasons for selling on Thursday, according to investors, were worries about the U.S.-China trade war, rising interest rates and lingering worries about possible overvalued U.S. tech stocks.
U.S. equities were already under pressure as Treasury yields traded back around multiyear highs on Thursday. The short-term two-year yield hit its highest level since June 2008 before slipping. The benchmark 10-year note yield climbed to 3.205 percent.
European stocks edged lower on Thursday, after EU leaders shelved plans for a special summit to complete a Brexit deal over the coming weeks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished provisionally down around 0.48 percent, with sectors moving in opposite directions.
Looking further across the European benchmark, Carrefour led the gains, up 8.89 percent. The French supermarket reported higher sales in the third-quarter, citing strong performances in its core French and Brazilian markets.
Novartis' shares rose 1.90 percent on Thursday. That byuing comes after the pharmaceutical firm announced that it is buying the cancer-drug maker Endocyte for $2.1 billion.
Source: CNBC