EUR

The yield on German 10-year Bund retouchs historic low. The record marked yesterday with an interest of 0.47% has been canceled today at the start of trading on European markets. The yield on the Bund falls to 0.33% and approaches the fateful zero.

All government bonds of the euro area are well procured from a few sessions but not with the intensity of the German 10-year. Meanwhile, today part of the plan purchases of corporate bonds non-bank by the ECB as part of the Qe and with the goal of bringing in 80 billion euro monthly purchases. Among the operators some fear that the Eurotower not reach at least 5 billion of corporate bonds and the level below € 3 billion would be read as a failure.

The SNB foreign currency reserves came out this morning. They were significantly higher than the previous month (602.1bn vs 587.6bn CHF). This is the highest number ever for the SNB, which keeps increasing its reserves since early 2009 and dramatically accelerated since 2012. This shows what, intuitively, we thought: the SNB is still intervening massively to stabilize the EURCHF exchange rate, which is trapped in the 1.10-1.11 range since late April, and almost always above 1.09 since January. And this is not going to stop.

According to the European Statistical Office, Eurostat, the third and final estimate of GDP for the 1st quarter indicates an increase of 0.6% on the quarter and 1.7% on year. These forecasts exceed those announced last month respectively 0.5% and 1.5%.

In the fourth quarter of the year there has been a growth of 0.3% qoq and 1.6% yearly. The entire European Union (EU) economy recorded an increase of 0.5% as compared to the cyclical same quarter last year, there was an increase of 1.8%.

Change of sentiment in the English people. A little over two weeks since the referendum on Brexit of June 23rd, the polls show a turn in the acclaim and now signal a trend victory of the supporters of the "Leave", who wants a divorce between London and Brussels.

According to the latest survey by YouGov for ITV, they lead the game with 45%, ahead of 41% of "Remain". A few days ago it had been another survey, this time published by the liberal daily The Guardian, to have created confusion among analysts and investors themselves, finding the first favorable outcome for Brexit in a telephone survey.

Interest rates will remain at current levels or lower for an extended period and the quantitative easing program will last at least until March 2017. This was stated by President of the ECB Mario Draghi stating that the Q and will last as long as there will be a correction significant inflation and that stimuli have rebalanced the risks and the economy is gradually advancing.

The ECB, Draghi added, will not hesitate to act if necessary. And it recalled that the low rates are a symptom of a weak economy and that they are the right fit for restoring growth. In addition, the ECB will use all the instruments available within the framework of its mandate if necessary.

White smoke for aid to Greece after a long negotiation that lasted 11 hours: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has got not only aid but also the green light to debt restructuring.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), to break the deadlock, has explicitly demanded to the Eurogroup a serious and concrete commitment on debt relief before getting involved in the third assistance program. The Eurogroup has put pen to paper this commitment while the IMF, later this year, will ask its board to contribute to the plan.

The Parliament in Athens approved a new package of austerity measures demanded by international lenders in return for a new tranche of aid before the Eurogroup meeting to be held Tuesday. In the specific case 152 Greek MPs approved a VAT increase, new direct taxes and measures to accelerate privatization. The new measures also provide for an automatic correction mechanism of the accounts should be rejected if the goal of bringing the primary surplus at 3.5% in 2018.

"The Greeks have assumed their responsibilities. Tomorrow also the counterparty will have to do the same," he said confident the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, after the vote in Parliament.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper "La Stampa", Sergio Ermotti, UBS CEO, expressed his view on the ECB’s monetary policy: "Bringing interest rates so low it was a duty, you had to try. but today, while the European central Bank continues with its expansive monetary policy, governments do not make the necessary reforms. So insist in the same direction is a kind of aggressive treatment ".
Regarding a possible return to Unicredit to succeed Federico Ghizzoni, Ermotti was very clear: "I have a very nice memory of Unicredit, but I must say that I am very happy where I am today."