SERBIA:

Total credits in Serbia in December higher by 2.5% on a monthly level
The total corporate, retail and enterprise credits in Serbia amounted to around RSD 2,364 billion at the end of 2018, which is 2.5% higher than in November, announced the Association of Serbian Banks. Corporate loans amounted to around RSD 1,352 billion in December and are 4.2% higher than in November, whereas enterprise loans amounted to RSD 49.6 billion, a growth by 2% compared to November. Retail lending grew by 0.3% to around RSD 962.4 billion. Of these, cash loans grew by 1.3%, consumer loans dropped by 0.6%, refinancing loans dropped by 3.1%, farming loans grew by 0.2%, whereas housing loans grew by 0.1%.
Source: Ekapija

Turkey ratifies Free Trade Agreement with Serbia
The Turkish parliament has ratified the new Free Trade Agreement between Serbia and Turkey, creating the conditions for a large number of products to be included in the duty-free trade between the two countries, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia Rasim Ljajic told Tanjug. Thanks to the new free trade agreement, Serbia can annually export 5,000 tons of beef, 25,000 tons of raw sunflower oil, 10,000 tons of refined sunflower oil, 15,000 tons of sunflower seeds, 5,000 tons of soy, 1,000 tons of animal feed products and 500 tons of certain baked products to Turkey free of duty for the first time, Ljajic says.
Source: Ekapija

NBS: Key policy rate unchanged
At its meeting yesterday, the NBS Executive Board voted to keep the key policy rate at 3.0%. In making this decision, the Executive Board primarily took into account the outlook for inflation and its factors going forward, as well as the effects of past monetary policy easing. Inflationary pressures remained low even in conditions of strong economic growth. Inflation has been low and stable for five years straight – it measured 1.9% y-o-y in November and, according to the Serbian Statistical Office, it averaged 2.0% for the whole of 2018. In the coming period, inflation is expected to remain stable within the target tolerance band (3.0±1.5%)
Source: NBS

REGION:

Problems for food industry due to fees in K&M – Drop of 10% recorded in November 2018
Due to the additional fees on goods from central Serbia that Pristina has implemented, a drop of 10% was recorded in the food industry in November, MAT’s economists announced. The area therefore became the main factor of the y-o-y stagnation of manufacturing in November and the lowering of the projected growth of manufacturing in 2018 to far below 3%. MAT economist Stojan Stamenkovic said that the total deliveries to K&M from central Serbia had amounted to EUR 410 million in the January-November period. He specified that the delivery had amounted to EUR 42.2 million in October, whereas in November, after the fees were implemented, it had dropped to EUR 17.2 million. Stamenkovic said that the deliveries, counting only the food industry, had amounted to EUR 7.7 million in October and only EUR 3.2 million in November.
Source: Ekapija

INO:

S&P 500 posts first 5-day winning streak since September, Europe stocks close slightly higher as auto firms announce job losses, Tesco up 2%
Stocks rose on Thursday, but gains were capped as disappointing holiday sales from Macy’s and a revenue guidance cut from American Airlines pressured retail and airline shares. Fear that the U.S. government shutdown might continue for a long time also weighed on stocks. The S&P 500 climbed 0.4 percent to 2,596.64 — notching its first five-day winning streak since September — as the real estate and industrials sectors outperformed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also posted a five-day winning streak, rising 122.80 points to 24,001.92 as Boeing outperformed. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4 percent to 6,986.07.
Macy’s shares tanked more than 18 percent — their worst day ever — after reporting its same-store sales grew by just 1.1 percent in November and December. The company also cut its earnings and revenue forecast for fiscal 2018.
Meanwhile, American Airlines fell more than 4 percent after slashing its revenue growth forecast for the fourth quarter. Shares of JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines both fell.
European shares were little changed at the end of Thursday’s trading session, as investors focused on trade war developments and automakers announcing job cuts. The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished slightly higher, up 0.3 percent, with sectors seeing mixed results by the end of trade.
Autos were one of the worst-performing sectors, as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said it will cut 10 percent of its workforce, mostly in its domestic U.K. market. Ford also said that it would be cutting thousands of jobs as part of a turnaround effort aimed at achieving a 6 percent operating margin in Europe.
Osram fell to the bottom of the index, down by more than 6 percent. The lighting company said that there had been lower demand by auto firms.
Tesco rose 2.1 percent after updating the markets on its Christmas performance. The grocery retailer said Thursday that it had outperformed its competitors with a 2.2 percent increase in Christmas sales.
Source: CNBC