Europe

Greece has started today a nationwide 48-hour strike to protest against the tax and benefit reforms to get money from international creditors. Organized by major public and private unions, the strike has kept the ships docked at the port and is blocking public transport. Even journalists have joined the protest.

"They are trying to prove the Eurogroup who are good students, but they are destroying the social security system of Greece," said the union the GSEE private sector, defining the new reforms are pending approval "the last nail in the coffin" for workers and retirees after six years of austerity. The groom is hoped that the measures, which should be approved on Sunday by the Parliament, will help to convince the creditors to approve the release of EUR 5 billion of aid. Greece needs the bailout funds to repay the IMF loans and bonds in the belly to the ECB expires in July.

Meeting at Palazzo Chigi between the Government and representatives of the metalworkers’ unions to take stock of the Alcoa dispute.

The Government has announced that within two weeks we will know the intentions of Glencore, the Swiss multinational in talks to detect the aluminum plant of the US group which is located in Sardinia.

The Spanish oil company Repsol reported a decline in net profit in the first quarter by 43 percent to 434 million euro, compared with 761 million euro in the same quarter of the previous year. Adjusted net income in the quarter was 572 million euro, compared to the same period a year ago. The Bloomberg consensus was for just 261 million. Respol had closed 0.37% decline in the Wednesday session in Madrid.
Last month it cut its proposed dividend to € 0.30 per share, from an originally proposed € 0.50.

The ECB has decided to stop the production of the 500-euro note, if the issue will stop "around the end of 2018". This was announced by the central bank, talking about "concerns that this note could facilitate illegal activities." "The 500 euro banknote – the ECB precise – will always retain its value and can be exchanged at the Eurosystem central banks for an unlimited period of time."

The economic recovery in the eurozone continues, thanks to the support measures offered by the ECB, but foreign demand is weak confirms, following the persistence of the international crisis, and the restrictive budgetary policies of the member states act as a brake to the stimuli offered. It ”s the point of the monthly bulletin published by the Institute of Frankfurt.

According to the Eurotower, the increase in employment guaranteed by the structural reforms and the low price of oil will continue to support household income and thus private consumption. The labor market continues to offer signs of improvement, even if gradually, which led to a 0.3% dell’occupaizone growth in the last quarter of 2015 and a reduction in the unemployment rate to 10.3%.

The European Commission is preparing a review of the Dublin agreements on joint management of immigration by introducing a 250,000 euro fine for each refugee is not accepted by one of the EU member states, in relation to the due share. The news was revealed by the prestigious Financial Times: this would be an extreme measure to convince Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria to accept refugees, contrary to the address indicated by the respective governments.

In the auction of bonds today, Spain has placed three long-term government bonds with maturities for a total of over 2 billion euro, on the middle fork initially scheduled (1.5 – 2.5 billions). In detail the Iberian state has placed government bonds maturing in 2026 for a total amount of 489 million euro, compared to a demand of 2.0 12 billion.
The coverage ratio (ratio between the amount requested and offered quantity) was equal to 4.3, while the gross yield offered by bonds was set all’1,592%, an increase over the previous all’1,496% starting April for placement securities maturing in 10 years.

The EU Commission sees continuing in Italy a "moderate growth" but revises downward the GDP 2016: 1.4% expected in February goes down to + 1.1%. Brussels confirms, then, the estimates on Italian unemployment in 2016 (11.4%) and slightly lower than the 2017 (from 11.3% to 11.2%).

In the spring forecast, Brussels also revise downward the Italian deficit of 2016 (from 2.5% forecast in February down to 2.4%), but raised the estimates for the one of 2017 (from 1.5% to 1, 9%). The structural deficit instead, "after a marginal improvement" in 2015, "worsens by more than half a percentage point in 2016", reaching -1.7%. It remains unchanged in 2017.