10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open
China's Producer Prices Are Falling Faster. The Chinese producer price index fell 3.3% in the year to December, a decline that is getting steeper. It's the fifth month in which an increasing drop in prices has been recorded by producers. Consumer price inflation came in at 1.5%.
German Industrial Production Unexpectedly Fell. November's figures are just out, and production dropped 0.1%, in contrast to expectations for a 0.4% increase. However, October's 0.2% increase was revised up to a 0.6% jump.
Asian Markets Are Up. The Nikkei closed 0.18% higher, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently up 0.77%, and China's Shanghai Composite is 0.55% higher.
Kocherlakota Says The Oil Price Drop Is A Good Thing For The US. The drop in oil prices is putting money in consumers' pockets and is "a good thing, basically" for the US economy, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said at a town hall at his bank's headquarters.
Sri Lanka's President Is Out. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was previously in power, conceded defeat to Maithripala Sirisena last night. Sirisena defected from the governing group just two months ago to be the opposition candidate, according to Bloomberg.
Tesco Got Cut To Junk. After its first really positive day in some time, in which a series of announced cuts seemed to buoy the share price, with investors and analysts largely approving, Moody's cut its rating of the world's second biggest retailer to junk, according to the FT.
Santander Launched A Surprise Capital Hike. Spain's Banco Santander said Thursday it will raise up to €7.5 billion in fresh funds in a capital hike, an unexpected move by new chairman Ana Botin to dispel concerns among investors that its financial cushion is thinner than those of other big European banks.
Analysts Are Now Starting To Expect US Deflation. In a new note to clients, BNP Paribas' Laura Rosner writes that low oil prices could drag headline inflation in the US into negative territory in the first two quarters of 2015.
Stamp Duty Changes Propelled House Sales In London's Most Expensive Areas To A 10-Year High. More homes changed hands on the day of the reforms, just before the new tax rules came in, than on any day in the past 10 years, according to the Financial Times.