He said France gave up the pretence of fiscal rectitude with successive delays to cutting its deficit while Italy’s 2016 fiscal stance next year is also projected to be 0.7 percent points of GDP looser than seen six months ago.
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The data, compiled using closing prices on Thursday, is based on the market value of euro-denominated sovereign bonds in the bloc. September and October data was revised to show 35,000 more new jobs than first reported. Investors increasingly expect the US central bank to raise rates from a record low at the meeting.
European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi has said that there’s “no limit” to the arsenal of tools it can deploy to fight stubbornly low inflation. “They did indeed have higher expectations than were there and that’s why they reacted like they reacted but that was not our intention”, ECB Vice-President, Vitor Constancio told CNBC in Frankfurt.
“Equity markets took a notable shake out yesterday in response to the underwhelming actions of the European Central Bank”, said TrustNet Direct analyst Tony Cross.
But investors were disappointed by the changes, which included taking interest rates even deeper into negative territory and extending the timeframe of its €60bn (£43.2bn) a month bond buying programme.
One of the biggest fallers is embattled supermarket Morrisons, which leaves the top flight after 14 years at the end of this session, following a FTSE 100 Index reshuffle. South Korea’s Kospi lost 1 percent to 1,974.40.
The euro shed 0.75 percent against the dollar to trade at $1.0862 after shooting 3.1 percent higher on Thursday, its biggest one-day gain since March 2009. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 retreated 1.5 percent to 5,151.60.
CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 122.99 yen from 122.53 yen in the previous day’s trading.
Deflation fears were compounded by the euro’s sudden leap above US$1.09 and its surge against the British pound and the Scandinavian currencies, all of which potentially make imported goods cheaper and hurts eurozone exporters. The contract jumped $1.14, or 2.9 percent, to close at $41.08 a barrel on Thursday in NY.
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Oil prices rose Friday amid OPEC´s policy meeting in Vienna, where the cartel appears on course to maintain crude production levels despite a recent plunge to underneath $40 per barrel.
