SERBIA:

NBS: Annual inflation in 2019 expected at 2.2-2.5%
According to the latest NBS inflation survey for December, annual inflation in 2019 is expected in a range of 2.2-2.5%. This is in a targeted range of NBS at 3% + or – 1.5%.
Source: NBS

EU's steel import restrictions won't harm Serbia, Juncker tells Vucic
The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has assured Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic in a letter that the planned restrictions on steel imports in the EU won't harm Serbia's trade interests, Vucic's office said. Earlier this month, Vucic sent a letter to Juncker, in which he expressed concerns about the possible negative consequences for the Serbian steel industry of the planned definitive safeguard measures on steel imports into the EU, which the Commission plans to impose in February.
Source: SeeNews

Belgrade plans ban on sale of facilities in the process of legalization
Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Goran Vesic said that the City of Belgrade had filed a request to the Republic Geodetic Authority for the registration of the annotation on the ban of transactions pertaining to illegal facilities in the territory of the city of Belgrade. This is in line with the Law on the Amendments to the Law on the Legalization of Facilities, which obligates all local self-governments to register annotations within six months of the law's coming into effect, which was in early November – Vesic said, as reported by Beoinfo.
Source: Ekapija

REGION:

Electric vehicle factory could be opened in Prijepolje or Krupanj
An electric vehicle factory could be built in Western Serbia due to the proximity of lithium deposits, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Vucic also said that he would try to arrange a brief meeting with the Chinese Vice President, Wang Qishan during the World Economic Forum in Davos to speak to him about the investment, namely about opening an electric bus factory somewhere in Western Serbia, as we are one of the countries with the highest lithium deposits in the world.
Source: Serbianmonitor

INO:

Dow rises more than 150 points on strong earnings from IBM, P&G and United Technologies, European stocks edge lower at close of trade, Metro Bank tanks 39% to drag on FTSE
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Wednesday on the back of strong quarterly earnings from companies like IBM, United Technologies and Procter & Gamble. The 30-stock index rose 171.14 points to 24,575.62. Big gains were hard to find away from companies that reported earnings, so the broader market was little changed. The S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent to close at 2,638.70, led by a 1.2 percent jump in the consumer staples sector. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.1 percent to 7,025.77.
Dow members United Technologies and Procter & Gamble both rose more than 4.8 percent after reporting better-than-expected earnings. IBM, another Dow component, jumped 8.5 percent in its best session since Oct. 18, 2017.
More than 14 percent of S&P 500 companies have released their calendar fourth-quarter results so far. Of those companies, 72.9 percent have topped earnings estimates, according to FactSet data. However, only 58.7 percent of those companies have beaten sales forecasts.
European stock markets rose then fell on Wednesday, as investors took cues from the whipsaw in U.S. market action. The pan European Stoxx 600 Index closed provisionally down 0.06 percent on the day. Most individual bourses in Europe were traded lower, after a strong start on Wall Street faded.
Looking at the corporate space, stocks showed a mixed to positive picture with the retail sector leading the pack, up over 1.5 percent as a whole. France’s Carrefour topped Europe’s benchmarks after an upbeat earnings report, which saw the retailer express optimism for its strategy plan going forward. Shares jumped nearly 7 percent.
Sticking with the sector, Ahold Delhaize popped over 3 percent after it reported fourth-quarter sales in line with analyst expectations.
Meanwhile, shares of Deutsche Bank pared losses to trade higher in later trade, despite a report from Bloomberg stating that the U.S. Federal Reserve is investigating the German lender’s role in a Danske Bank money laundering scheme. The bank has since responded to this, saying in a statement to Reuters that it’s received requests for information from regulators and law enforcement agencies.
Source: CNBC