10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open
Syriza Won A Massive Victory In Greece. With the vast majority of the votes counted, Greece's anti-austerity Syriza party has taken 36% of the vote at the General Election, about 8% more than the governing conservatives. The latest official projection from the Interior Ministry gives the party 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament - two short of a majority, but more than analysts expected them to manage.
The Win Pushed The Euro To New 11-Year Lows. Near midnight GMT (7:00 p.m. ET) on Sunday, the euro was down to as low as 1.1112 against the US dollar, a new 11-year low for the currency which was slammed last week after the European Central Bank announced a new quantitative easing program.
And Oil Fell Back Below $45. At around midnight (7:05 p.m. ET), the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down another 2.5% to $44.45 a barrel. It's now back to $45, while Brent crude sits at $48.26 per barrel.
Asian Markets Are Down A Little. Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.25%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently down 0.16%. The Shanghai Composite index is up 0.24% just ahead of the close.
Japan's Trade Deficit Hit A Record $109 Billion In 2014. The shortfall of 12,781 billion yen ($109 billion) was up 11.4 percent from the 2013 deficit and the worst since records began in 1979, according to the finance ministry. In December alone, however, the deficit almost halved from the year before's level to 660.7 billion yen, thanks to lower oil prices.
German Confidence Figures Are Coming. At 9:00 a.m. GMT (4:00 a.m. ET) Germany's IFO index of private sector confidence is out for January, which should give some insight into the country's business climate. Analysts are expecting a modest improvement.
Spain Is Privatising Some Of The World's Largest Airport Operator. The Spanish government said Friday it would float a section of the world's largest airport operator AENA as part of a much-delayed privatisation of the firm, Europe's first major stock market listing of the year.
Analysts Are Looking To The Fed On Wednesday. Analysts are getting ready for the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decisions on Monday, and central bank meetings in Israel, Hungary, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Mexico, Colombia, Russia could bring in another round of worldwide easing this week.
President Obama Is In Talks In India With Prime Minister Modi. The two sides have worked to reach agreements on climate change, taxation and defence cooperation in time for the visit. Talks on a hoped-for deal on civil nuclear trade went down to the wire with no clear solution at the weekend. Obama will be the first US President to attend India's Republic Day today.
Volkswagen Are Recalling 80,000 Audis. German car maker Volkswagen AG will recall 80,000 cars from its luxury division Audi due to issues with the fuel injection system, Audi said on Saturday, adding that around 35,000 of the affected vehicles are from China.