SERBIA:

NBS: Key policy rate kept on hold
At its yesterday’s meeting, the NBS Executive Board voted to keep the key policy rate on hold, at 3.5%. In making the decision, the Executive Board was guided by the new, February inflation projection and its factors, and the effects of past monetary policy easing. In December, inflation stood at the target midpoint of 3.0% y-o-y, this being its average value in 2017. Under the February central projection as well, year-on-year inflation will continue to move within the target tolerance band until the end of the projection horizon (in the next two years), NBS said in a report.
Source: NBS

Tender for contractor for Belgrade subway in 2020?
The construction of the first line of the Belgrade subway will begin in 2020, Mayor Sinisa Mali. As Beoinfo reports, the starting terminus will be located in Makisko Polje. There will be two lines, one with 22, the other with 20 kilometers. The City of Belgrade has prepared special analyses and studies necessary for defining the said routes for the first time. This primarily pertains to the “smart plan”, the City of Belgrade Transport Master Plan, adopted last year.
Source: Ekapija

MK Group biggest exporter of grains in 2017 as well
The Serbian agrarian sector exported over 2.5 million tons of grains and oil plants to the Europe and the world in 2017. The exports of MK Group and its members MK Commerce and Agroglobe make up a third of the total amount, placing the company in the top spot on the list of exporters of grains, as shown by the data available to the Serbian Grains association. As MK Group announced, the total export of all grains in Serbia in 2017 amounted to 1.7 million tons, of which nearly 25% was exported by Miodrag Kostic's companies. Next on the list are Delta Agrar with 205,911 tons and Konzul with 165,396 tons.
Source: Ekapija

REGION:

Prešeren's day, a holiday of Slovenian culture on February 8th
Yesterday the stock exchange in Ljubljana was closed as February 8th is Prešeren's day, a holiday of Slovenian culture. It has been celebrated since 1945 and since 1946 it is the state holiday, from 1991 it has also been a work free day. Slovenian statistical office says that each citizen of Slovenia spent on average 172 euros for culture in 2016 and that culture contributed 1.1% to GDP and total government expenditure on culture was 1.0% of GDP.
Source: Ilirika

INO:

Dow plummets 1000 points, now down 10% from record, S&P 500 drops 3.7% to new low for week, European markets close lower as tech stocks slump, DAX down 2.6%, BOE holds rates
Stocks fell sharply on Thursday as strong earnings and economic data were not enough to quell jitters on Wall Street about higher interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average closed more than 1,000 points lower, entering correction territory. This is the third drop for the Dow greater than 500 points in the last five days. The S&P 500 pulled back 3.75 percent, reaching a new low for the week, while Nasdaq composite fell 3.9 percent as Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft all fell at least 4.5 percent.. The benchmark 10-year U.S. note yield rose to 2.88 percent before slipping to 2.848 percent Thursday, holding around multi-year highs.
Twitter and Grubhub reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Twitter shares soared 12.2 percent, while Grubhub spiked 27.4 percent higher.
European stocks closed lower on Thursday The pan-European STOXX 600 ended off around 1.6 percent, with all of Europe's sectors posting declines. All major bourses closed in negative territory, with Germany's DAX leading the losses, down more than 2.6 percent.
Earnings season continues to shake up sentiment, with a number of major companies posting financial figures Thursday. Zurich Insurance pared almost all of its gains to end marginally lower after earnings beat expectations. Full-year net profit came in at $3 billion, having fallen 6 percent — however this surpassed analyst estimates of $2.72 billion, according to a Reuters poll. Sticking with the sector, Swiss Re closed up around 2 percent after the firm had said it was in talks with Japan's Softbank about a "potential minority investment."
In banking, Societe Generale posted an 82 percent drop in quarterly net income, impacted by restructuring costs and tax-related charges. Despite this, the results topped expectations and shares closed nearly 2 percent higher. Commerzbank saw a 51 percent fall in net profit during its fourth quarter, as the lender turned its attention to a major overhaul. Shares ended down more than 2 percent on the news.
The Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged Thursday. The central bank also indicated the need for interest rates earlier and potentially more frequently than previously predicted.
For the next five years, Brussels imposed new anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese steel products. A similar but temporary measure adopted by the European Commission in August last year, the investigation showed that Chinese importers greatly lower steel prices in France, Belgium and some other countries.
Source: CNBC, Ilrika