Rolling economic and financial news, as a new survey finds that investors are more concerned about Greece leaving the eurozoneLatest: Greek reform bills could be delayedSentix: 38% of investors see eurozone break-up this yearGrexit fears highest since autumn 2012Stunning German retail sales figures 10.48am GMT MPs now asking whether the terms of reference for Grabiner's review went far enough. Carney says he wasn't involved with striking terms. 10.46am GMT Back in parliament, Bank of England governor Mark Carney has defended the official inquiry into its role in the foreign exchange-rigging scandal, led by Lord Grabiner.My colleague Angela Monaghan is tweeting the key points from the Treasury committee:Carney defiant, insisting Grabiner review got to the "heart of the matter" on Bank's role in the forex scandal (not guilty of impropriety)Carney defends the timing of the firing of its chief currency dealer Martin Mallett, a day before Grabiner report was published. 1/2Carney says a review of e-mails and phone calls revealed a "series of misjudgments" by Mallett that could not be ignored. 2/2Carney: Mallett's misjudgments incl sharing BoE docs externally, violation of IT policy, venturing personal opinions, inappropriate language 10.41am GMT Greece’s finance minister appeared to be in good spirits this morning, as he headed off to work:#Varoufakis blows kiss to passer by on his way to work - VIDEO - #Greece - http://t.co/bT1Rg3qICi pic.twitter.com/WBeSACvE9n 10.39am GMT Greece’s credit rating will be cut unless it agrees a long-lasting agreement with its partners over its funding needs, rating agency Fitch warned this morning.Greece needs to secure a “durable” aid agreement with the rest of the euro zone to avoid a further downgrade of its already sub-investment grade sovereign rating, one of Fitch’s top analysts said on Tuesday.“We believe that an agreement will ultimately be reached between Greece and its European partners as Grexit would be costly for both parties. Failure to reach a durable agreement would lead to a rating downgrade,” Fitch’s head of EMEA sovereigns, Ed Parker, said in a question and answer session In the Reuters Global Markets Forum chatroom. 10.24am GMT European factory gate prices have fallen for the fourth month in a row, Eurostat reports.The amount that firms were paid for their goods fell by 0.9% month-on-month in January, and were 3.4% lower than a year ago. CHART: Luxembourg was only euro-area member with positive PPI reading in January. Energy prices continued to decline. pic.twitter.com/51HD8iH4u8Underlying price pressures across the Eurozone look set to be limited for some considerable time to come because of the constraining effects of large output gaps in many countries following prolonged weak economic activity and still high unemployment. 10.06am GMT Over in Athens, sources are telling our correspondent Helena Smith that “there is a good chance” the government will delay sending some draft laws aimed at alleviating Greece’s “humanitarian crisis” to parliament. The laws were due to be gradually presented this week. On Monday, the government unveiled the first of the reforms – providing food stamps, reconnection of disconnected electricity supplies and shelter – for 300,000 families mostly in the poorer suburbs of Athens. Other bills, however, including the introduction of a new scheme for repayment of overdue taxes and security contributions and the re-opening of the public broadcaster, ERT – shut down by former prime minister Antonis Samaras in June 2013 – are not likely to be brought before the House until after next week’s euro group meeting in Brussels on Monday. 10.03am GMT The House of Commons Treasury Committee is starting to question Bank of England governor Mark Carney about the BoE’s investigation into misconduct in the foreign exchange market. 9.36am GMT However....some UK construction firms did warn that uncertainty in the build-up to May’s general election may hit demand.First look at UK PMI suggests there is a lot to be positive about within UK construction. Election seen as potential blip to activity though 9.35am GMT Just in: Britain’s construction sector racked up surprisingly strong growth last month.Markit’s Construction PMI, which measures activity across the sector, rose to 60.1 last month. That shows the fastest growth since October last year.Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI Feb: 60.1 (est 59; prev 59.1)Go the UK ! Markit: Sharpest expansion of construction activity for four months #GBP #GDP 9.29am GMT The Athens stock market is outperforming the rest of Europe, up around 2% in early trading.That follows finance minister Yanis Varoufakis’s pledge to take six firm reform policies to Brussels next Monday. Investors may also be calmed by his promise that Greece will do everything in its power to meet its March debt repayments. 9.15am GMT Our Athens correspondent, Helena Smith, tweets:#Greece deputy pm Giannis Dragasakis denies that technical teams from dreaded "troika" - oops "institutions" - in Athens tmr 9.03am GMT The latest Spanish unemployment figures also suggest that Europe’s economy is reviving. The number of Spaniards out of work fell by 13,538 last month, or 0.3%, as factories and building firms took on more staff.Key question: what conclusions will Spanish voters draw from contrast between Spain's recovery and Syriza-induced disaster in Greece? 8.55am GMT German consumers hit the shops with remarkable vigour last month, in the latest signal that Europe’s largest economy is gaining strength.German retail sales jumped by 2.9% month-on-month in January, the biggest jump since January 2008. JPM calles the rise in German retail sales "legendary": pic.twitter.com/1pRLXnh9RA 8.50am GMT I forgot to link earlier, sorry, but here’s the Sentix survey: 8.41am GMT Here’s another chart from this morning’s Sentix’s eurozone survey, showing that fears of Greece leaving the eurozone are at their highest level since autumn 2012.As Greek rumblings continues ever more investors expect #Greece to leave Euro. #Grexit risk at 37%, highest since '12 pic.twitter.com/hlrDNMDaQT 8.33am GMT 2014 was a good year for Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins.“On this occasion I judged it was right for me to take my bonus....Barclays today is a stronger business, with better prospects, than at any time since the financial crisis. 8.14am GMT Europe’s banks will not be subjected to a full stress test this year. The European Banking Authority, which ran a health-check of the sector last autumn, announced the move (or non-move) this morning:EuropeanBankingAuthority EBA decided not to carry out an EU-wide stresstest in 2015(next 2016) http://t.co/x2vm0IbB09 pic.twitter.com/AJ924klQzx 8.11am GMT Writing in the Guardian today, Syriza MP Costas Lapavitsas argues that Greece’s best hope of ending its deflationary economic spiral is to leave the euro.Lapavitsas warns that the next four months will be very tough for Athens as it tries to meet the demands of its lenders:Tax income is collapsing, partly because the economy is frozen and partly because people are withholding payment in the expectation of relief from the extraordinary tax burden imposed over the last few years. The public purse will come under considerable strain already in March, when there are sizeable debt repayments to be made.The most vital step is to realise that the strategy of hoping to achieve radical change within the institutional framework of the common currency has come to an end. The strategy has given us electoral success by promising to release the Greek people from austerity without having to endure a major falling-out with the eurozone. Unfortunately, events have shown beyond doubt that this is impossible, and it is time that we acknowledged reality. 7.59am GMT More investors expect the eurozone to fracture over the next 12 months than at any time since the Cyprus bailout crisis of March 2013.The Euro Break-up Index, calculated by German research group Sentix, jumped to a two-year high of 38% in February, from around 24% in January, with more investors predicting a Greek exit. The development is driven by a clearly worsening assessment of investors concerning Greece....Despite the solution which was found last week for Greece ever more investors expect the Mediterranean country to leave the euro soon. 7.58am GMT Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial market, the eurozone, and business.“We are negotiating a third rescue for Greece.”“Euro zone finance ministers are not discussing a third bailout.” #Varoufakis on #enikos : Greek #repayments will be made in full - #Greece #IMF #bailout http://t.co/9p9ZRAfeoV pic.twitter.com/MdDqg5CGxLin athens, we're looking at the end of creative vagueness as finmin varoufakis says he'll go to monday's eurogroup with 6 proposed reformsBarclays provides £1.25bn for forex rigging investigations, another £200m for PPI Continue reading...
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