All the latest economic and financial news, including February’s US unemployment report and Greek bailout developments Latest: Euro weakens against dollar and poundBond yields at record lowGreece meets IMF loan repaymentNikkei hits highest level since April 2000The Agenda: It’s non-farm payroll day 10.43am GMT 10.24am GMT So, Greece has sent a new letter to Brussels with details of its reform plans, but it didn’t arrive in time for Wednesday’s working group (where officials do the hard graft ahead of Monday’s eurogroup meeting)The new @yanisvaroufakis letter to @J_Dijsselbloem not received until after € working group meeting, so not prepped for #Eurogroup. 10.09am GMT Eurostat has just confirmed that the eurozone economy grew by 0.3% in the last three months of 2014, in line with the initial estimate.Encouragingly, consumer spending, business investment and trade all added to GDP growth, while government spending was flat. 9.56am GMT Monday’s eurogroup meeting is likely to be an epic, as finance ministers from across the single currency region chew through Greece’s reform plans.That’s according to a Brussels official who is briefing the press now. The FT’s Peter Spiegel is tweeting the key points:Time for everyone's favourite monthly @twitter event: the pre-#Eurogroup background briefing. #GreeceInstitutions to update #Eurogroup on "technical preparations to resume discussions" w/#Greece. In English: nowhere near deal on fast cash#EU official confirms #Eurogroup has received new letter from @yanisvaroufakis with reform proposals for Monday's #Eurogroup. #Greece"It will be a super duper long #Eurogroup," says #EU official. Another signal no progress expected on #Greece on Monday. 9.46am GMT The meeting between Greece’s prime minister and its central bank governor is over.Bank chief Yannis Stournaras spoke to the media afterwards, and said that it is “very important” that Monday night’s eurogroup meeting is a success. He also pledged that Greek bank deposits are safe [yesterday, the ECB extended another €500m of emergency liquidity support to the sector]Στουρνάρας: «Δεν υπάρχει πρόβλημα με τις καταθέσεις» http://t.co/jxjQmTkkTh pic.twitter.com/1Nvr1uMvA7After meeting w #Tsipras BoG gov Stournaras says banks safe&capitalised but v important for Monday's #Eurogroup to be successful #Greece 9.40am GMT Back in Britain, the public’s inflation expectations have hit a 13-year low.Citizens expect prices to rise by 1.9% over the next year, the lowest since late 2001, a new Bank of England survey found. [reminder, UK inflation is currently just 0.3%] 9.33am GMT These charts underline how the euro has weakened against other major currencies in recent weeks, hitting new lows this morning.#Euro drops to fresh 7yr low vs Sterling. Traded as low as GBP0.7213. pic.twitter.com/nWH14on1eZ#Euro slips to fresh 11yr Low. Acc to Citi there’s no obvious reason other than continuation of well-accepted trend. pic.twitter.com/WJwPvYpOIf 9.27am GMT The euro has just weakened to a new eleven and a half-year low against the US dollar.Foreign exchange traders drove the single currency down to its lowest level since September 2003, as they prepare for the European Central Bank to unleash its trillion-euro bond-buying programme on Monday.Trade-weighted € has dropped by far more in the first 10 weeks of this year than it did in all of 2014. pic.twitter.com/ZEc8fFyA5sWith the ECB buying more bonds than are being issued, this is a huge negative for the euro. All roads at present lead to a weaker euro and an outperforming equity market. 9.14am GMT Newsflash from Reuters: Greece has met a loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund this morning.A busy month of IMF repayments for #Greece. http://t.co/myfWnj7kWf …via @charlesforelle pic.twitter.com/jq7GTlELUT 9.06am GMT Greece is unlikely to trigger a systemic crisis if it defaults on its debt and leave the eurozone, rating agency Fitch says today.In a new report, Fitch warns that the threat of Grexit hasn’t abated, despite the four-month bailout extension agreed last month.The uncompromising stance taken by both sides at times before the agreement highlights the possibility of a future policy mistake. “Grexit” is not our base case, but will remain a risk as more detailed negotiations take place, and as the Greek government tries to maintain domestic support for the deal it secures.The eurozone has developed mechanisms to prevent a run on a sovereign leading to a sovereign default, and to alleviate sovereign-to-sovereign contagion, and concerns about other eurozone sovereigns’ creditworthiness are less pronounced than in 2012. A chain reaction from Grexit to the ultimate breakup of the bloc is therefore unlikely... 8.38am GMT German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung claims that European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has rejected a request to speak with Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras today.According to Suddeutsche, Tsipras hoped to discuss Greece’s funding problems with Junker; but the EC president wants to wait until Monday’s eurogroup meeting.A cash-strapped #Tsipras made emergency call to @JunckerEU to meet today but the latter refused (Suddeutsche Zeitung) http://t.co/iiBKl7lVSpGreece now unable to pay public sector employees, Tsipras makes emergency call to Juncker https://t.co/Jm7OcD4Ios 8.28am GMT In the City, shares in holiday firm Thomas Cook have jumped by 16% after it announced a tie-up with a Chinese investor. 8.21am GMT Spain’s factory sector also performed well in January, posting a 0.4% rise in output.Economists had expected a 0.3% decline - perhaps the weak euro is providing eurozone firms a much-needed boost. 8.16am GMT Germany’s industrial heartland began 2015 quite strongly, new data shows, as its economic recovery continued to pick up. German industrial production rose by 0.6% in January, ahead of forecasts. December’s figure was revised sharply higher too, to +1.0%.German IP much stronger than expected (+0.6% MoM in January) once the revision to December (from +0.1% to 1.0% MoM) is taken into account.#Germany's Industrial Production Increases for Fifth Month as Momentum Builds http://t.co/BptlHJjs3Y /via @business 8.05am GMT The QE effect is also pushing up the value of debt issued by Spain, Portugal and Italy to record highs.This is pushing down the yield (interest rate) on all three country’s debts to new lows, as investors anticipate the arrival of the ECB’s stimulus programme.Peripheral Bond yields make fresh Euro-Era lows ahead of ECB QE. 10yr Portugal ylds at 1.7%, Spain 1.24%, Italy 1.26% pic.twitter.com/irTJs0m5YxThe fact the bank is prepared to buy bonds with yields as low as negative 20 basis points increases its scope (or the actual ability) to buy €60 billion a month in assets, especially as 32% of all outstanding bonds have a negative yield now. 7.51am GMT The news that the eurozone is, finally, joining the quantitative easing party has helped to drive shares in Japan to a 15-year high.The Nikkei jumped 1.2% or 291 points to 18,971, the best closing level since April 2000. The ECB announcement did not contain anything that should have surprised investors, but with the mood still extremely equity friendly, it triggered another rally for Eurozone indices. 7.49am GMT Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.America’s labour market recovery puts Europe to shame. And we’ll get another reminder of that today, with the latest Non-Farm Payroll report (at 1.30pm GMT).#Greece PM Tsipras to meet w BoG Stournaras in abt an hour, in order to be informed re the yesterday's ECB meeting (via @capitalgr ) Continue reading...
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