EUR

In an interview with Bild, Mario Draghi spoke of the lack of inflation in the euro, the impact of low interest rates on savers – in particular to be angry are those Germans – the age-old problem of the greek debt and referendum on Brexit, scheduled for June 23.

The journalist who asked how a central banker Italian, that the Germans feared could trigger inflation too high, can not stimulate consumer prices, Draghi said that in Germany can rest assured that the ECB is doing everything possible to bring inflation to the desired levels, around 2%. "Interest rates are low because growth is low and inflation is too low. Think about what would be the alternative: if we increase the time cost of money, what would be bad for the economy and result in deflation, unemployment and a new recession. "

Berlin is opposed to the special summit called by Greece. The German Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schaeuble said that "the talks with Greece have not made much progress." He added: "When the conditions are met, the meeting will be convened." So the Athens Stock Exchange back in the eye after the Eurogroup reference that had to discuss aid to the greek country: the BS Ase index leaves on the ground 2.5%. And Nathan Sheets, deputy secretary of the US Treasury for international affairs – as reported by Bloomberg – argues that the IMF will provide funds to Greece only with reforms and with a debt relief.

The president of the Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, in a speech to the German embassy in Italy, believes that a large risk-sharing between the Member eurozone without a strengthened common control mechanism "would be a wrong path" and would not create the " strong incentives to comply with the rules "that will see the Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan.

"Since the creation of the monetary union the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact were violated by some states, including even Italy, more often than they have been" osservate.Weidmann also recalled that "even Germany in the years 2003/2004, he has helped weaken the binding force of the rules. "

The Euro zone’s private sector kept expanding moderately in April, but failed to gather momentum. The Markit Composite PMI, a forward-looking reading tracking development in the Euro bloc’s manufacturing and services sectors came in at 53.0 in the reported month, down from 53.1 seen previously, when it rebounded from February’s 13-month low. The manufacturing PMI declined to 51.5 in April, compared with 51.6 in the preceding month, while the services sector gauge rose to 53.2, slightly ahead of 53.1 in March, but undershooting economists’ expectations of 53.3. The Euro zone’s economic growth continued to be weak as the bloc’s GDP expanded 0.3% in the final three months of 2015 on a quarterly basis, the same pace as in the three months through September. For all of 2015, economic output of the 19 countries using the Euro was up by 1.6% year-on-year.

Bets have turned decisively towards a favorable vote by the British to stay within the European Union after the warning by US President Barack Obama, who warned London the risks caused by ‘Brexit’.

The implied probability of a vote to remain in the union during the referendum of 23 June rose by several percentage points to 75% share, according to Betfair, known British betting agency. According to Ladbrokes however, which is based on live betting, are 73% chances that Britain votes to stay in the European Union.

Activity levels across Japan’s manufacturing sector contracted sharply in April. Japanese manufacturing activity contracted this month at the fastest in more than three years and output fell the most in two years, after earthquakes halted production in the southern manufacturing hub of Kumamoto. The preliminary Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index fell 1.1 points to a seasonally adjusted 48.0 in April from a final 49.1 in March. The data was way down the expected 49.6 figure. The PMI remained below the 50 threshold that separates contraction from expansion for the second consecutive month and showed activity contracted the most since January 2013. Moreover, the output component of the PMI index also fell to 47.9 from 49.8 in the previous month to show the fastest contraction since April 2014. The sharp drop in total new work was underpinned by the fastest fall in international demand since December 2012, and following the two earthquakes in Kumamoto, the outlook of the goods-producing sector now looks especially uncertain.

The Eurogroup has mandated the President Jeroen Dijsselbloem to start the comparison with Greece on strain of the Greek debt. "Nothing contained in the package will be closed until the whole package will be closed," said the same Dijsselbloem.

At the meeting "there was a common point of view that it is conceivable, feasible riprofile the greek public debt without a par value cut, without a haircut", said Christine Lagarde, director of the International Monetary Fund. "Based on our analysis of the sustainability of the Greek debt – said Lagarde – you can operate using all existing devices", in fact except for a haircut. For some time the IMF considers it necessary to reduce the greek government debt, defined unsustainable and on this point the clashes with European governments, in particular Germany, were different.

Switzerland published its March Trade Balance this morning and this one was catastrophic. The figure came out at CHF 2.16bn vs CHF 4.02bn previously. Switzerland did not publish such a low figure since February 2015, so more than a year.