SERBIA:

Serbia drops to 48th place on Doing Business list
This year, Serbia is 48th of the 190 countries ranked by the ease of doing business, compared to the 43rd spot from last year's reports, although its total number of points has increased, as per the World Bank's Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform report, published yesterday. The main reason for this drop is that other countries have made bigger progress in regulating their business environment, the World Bank announced.
Source: Ekapija

EBRD lifts Serbia's 2018 GDP growth forecast to 4.2%
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) increased on Thursday its projection for Serbia's 2018 economic growth to 4.2% from 2.9% envisaged in May. Faster growth is to be supported by further strengthening of consumption and investment. The risks to the projection are balanced and mainly relate to the implementation of reforms envisaged under the IMF’s PCI and the further pace of Eurozone growth," the lender noted in its latest Regional Economic Prospects report. Serbia's economic growth is projected to slow to 3.5% in 2019, the EBRD said.
Source: SeeNews

Serbia is a reliable partner to Italian businesses
Italy is one of the leading investors in Serbia with the value of the Italian investments amounting to over 800 million euro. Still, Serbia is still open for new investments and partnerships with Italian companies – it was said at the conference New Economic Opportunities for Regional Italian Companies held in Verona. Director of the Sector for International Economic Relations at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Serbia, Jelena Jovanovic says that looking at individual companies that invested in Serbia, Italian companies occupy the second place on the list of the top investor countries.
Source: Serbian monitor

REGION:

Komercijalna banka reported RSD 6.5bn in its 9M net profit,
Komercijalna Banka (KMBN) reported RSD 6.5bn in its net profit, for 9M 2018, which is down 6% y/y, due to absence of high tax gain, while on an adjusted basis, the profit is actually higher 14% y/y. Net interest income was up only light 1.3% y/y, while net F&C income was higher by 2.8% y/y. Adjusted net profit is higher due to better performances with securities and solid cost control. The bank’s assets grew 5.4% YTD, due to higher credit activity (+2.15%) and higher volume of placements into government securities (+12.4% y/y).
Source: KMBN, Ilirika

INO:

Stocks jump again, bringing 3-day gain in the Dow to more than 900 points, European stocks close higher, Bank of England holds rates, sterling rallies
Stocks closed higher on Thursday as a rebound from sharp losses last month continued after comments from President Donald Trump indicated potential progress in U.S.-China trade relations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 264.98 points to 25,380.74 as DowDuPont outperformed, bringing its three-day gains to more than 900 points. The S&P 500 climbed 1.1 percent to 2,740.37, with the materials leading. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.8 percent to 7,434.06 ahead of Apple's quarterly earnings report.
Overall, corporate earnings have been mostly better than expected this season. FactSet data show 76.9 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported have topped analyst expectations for calendar third-quarter earnings.
In economic data, initial U.S. weekly jobless claims fell to 214,000 last week while continuing claims remained at their lowest levels since 1973. The data come ahead of the monthly jobs report, which is set for release Friday morning.
European stocks rose on Thursday, as investors digested stronger-than-anticipated corporate earnings, while sterling rose sharply after a reported Brexit breakthrough. The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished provisionally up by 0.24 percent with sectors and major bourses almost evenly split between winners and losers.
Europe's telecoms stocks led the gains on the back of robust earnings results. BT was the top sectoral performer, after raising its company outlook. Shares were 8.6 percent higher at the close.
Meanwhile, Credit Suisse dropped nearly 2.1 percent after missing forecasts, despite a 74 percent increase in net income from a year ago.
The Bank of England (BOE) kept its benchmark interest rates unchanged on Thursday, but hinted that a smooth Brexit could quicken the bank's rate-hiking cycle.
Source: CNBC