European stock markets rally as investors await news from the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve later this week * Introduction: Two big central bank meetings this week * Oil is up * Brexit profits warning from UK outsourcer 5.56pm BST OVER IN GREECE THE GOVERNMENT IS ONCE AGAIN IN A RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK TO IMPLEMENT REFORMS THAT WILL UNLOCK FURTHER BAILOUT FUNDS. After the tense restart of talks with visiting inspectors last week, officials are promising to placate creditors with an omnibus bill detailing new measures this week. Helena Smith reports from Athens: With its popularity plummeting in the polls, Greece’s leftist-led government is keen to use the resumption of talks with lenders to good effect. Long and short, that means debt relief and putting discussion of it on the table. To get there Athens needs to complete the current round of prior actions, or milestone reforms, it failed to deal with over the summer. Upon them not only rests the next installment of bailout aid – at €2.8bn critical for the debt-wracked economy - but the onset of official debate over what to do about Greece’s unsustainable debt load, at 180% of national output by far the highest in the eurozone. “The idea is to push the multi-bill with all these measures through parliament this week,” said one well-placed source. Among the measures will be the appointment of a supervisory board for the country’s new privatisation fund - an issue Athens has rowed about vociferously with creditors – and the formal inclusion of several loss-making public entities in the body. With Greece’s debt-repayment timetable far from pressing, creditors - though peaved with the slow pace of reforms - are not piling on the pressure. Instead it is the government, that feeling the pinch of public hostility, is now keen to move on to the next step of passing the reforms so the Euro Working Group can agree to disburse the aid when it next meets on September 29. If that goal is achieved, the hope is the next bailout review will begin on October 17 – and with it the much anticipated issue of debt forgiveness. 5.14pm BST With a recovery in oil prices and hopes that the US Federal Reserve will keep interest rates on hold on Wednesday, stock markets have begun the week on an upbeat note. A weaker dollar helped lift commodity companies, with mining companies making up five on the top ten riser on the FTSE 100 index. The final scores showed: Continue reading...
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