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Barclays Capital Goes Live With Sponsored Access on NASDAQ OMX Europe

March 4, 2010--ASDAQ OMX Europe ("NEURO") today announced that Barclays Capital has been approved as a Sponsoring Participant. Barclays Capital will be the first broker to offer Sponsored Access using NEURO's advanced Pre-Trade Risk Management system.

Sponsored Access enables participants to provide their clients' direct connectivity to NEURO's advanced matching and routing services. NEURO provides a Pre-Trade Risk Management system which mitigates market risk by monitoring all orders submitted to the NEURO book. Any orders that breach pre-determined trading limits will be rejected.

Clients are able to connect either via proximity hosting or through remote access.

"We are delighted to be working with Barclays Capital in providing their clients with access to NEURO," said Charlotte Crosswell, President of NEURO. "Sponsored Access provides new opportunities for a wide range of market participants to trade directly on our platform."

"We are pleased to be the first broker to offer our clients full-service sponsored access on NASDAQ OMX Europe" said Robert Orgel, Head of Barclays Capital's Quantitative Prime Services product in Europe. "As the European trading landscape evolves, we continue to work closely with trading venues in order to offer new and innovative solutions to our clients. Sponsored access complements our market leading DMA platform, SubM(SM), providing ultra low latency access to equities, futures and options markets globally."

Source: NASDAQ OMX

EU expects free trade deal with India by October

March 4, 2010--The European Union expects to clinch a free trade pact with India by October, the EU's trade chief said Thursday, as the 27-member trading bloc pushes to secure new markets across Asia.

"The deal should be done by the next summit between the EU and India in October," EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said in New Delhi following a day of talks with Indian trade minister Anand Sharma.

De Gucht and Sharma "shared the view" that a deal could be done and "we will speed up negotiations," the EU trade official told reporters.

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Source: EUbusiness

wiiw Forecast for Central, East and Southeast Europe, 2010-2012

March 4, 2010--Most countries in Central, East and Southeast Europe have emerged from the trough of the crisis already at the end of 2009. Several leading indicators point to a modest upswing. All countries in the region will grow again only by 2011. Growth may accelerate slightly in 2012, but will in general be slower than in the pre-crisis period.

Given the weak rebound of economic activities, unemployment will continue to rise. The most vulnerable group of workers affected by the crisis are those with low skills. Economic policies should focus on countercyclical measures, correcting real exchange rate misalignments, as well as changing the regulatory framework and a range of supply-side policies. These are the main results of the new medium-term forecast and policy assessment for the region published by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw).

Recession deeper than expected
After a long period of convergence, Central, East and Southeast Europe experienced a deep recession in 2009. The relatively moderate GDP decline (-3.6%) on average for the new EU member states (NMS) reflects Poland’s weight in the group, the only EU country to have recorded positive GDP growth last year (Albania, Kazakhstan and China registered positive growth rates as well). In most other countries the catching-up process was interrupted, in particular the Baltic States were thrown several years back – more than Russia and Ukraine. The most conspicuous response to the crisis was a radical depletion of inventories and, closely related to this, a dramatic improvement in net exports since the contraction of imports was much larger than that of exports. This, together with less profit realized by foreign companies operating in the region, resulted in a sizeable reduction of current account deficits. Modest upswing in the making Most countries in the region have emerged from the trough of the crisis already at the end of 2009. Several leading indicators point to a modest upswing. Poland’s growth will once again boost the NMS average in 2010, while the rate of expansion in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia will be meagre. Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are still expected to stagnate in 2010, the Baltic States will record further negative growth rates – just as Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan will rebound more strongly. We expect all countries in the region to be growing again only by 2011. That growth may accelerate slightly in 2012, but will in general be slower than in the pre-crisis period. The main prerequisite of an upturn is a marked recovery in global trade, including a rise in demand for imports from the region. Increases in private consumption are not likely to be very pronounced as long as employment fails to grow. Investment will not act as a strong engine of growth either. Given the generally weak rebound of economic activities, unemployment will continue to rise, probably peaking in 2010, before falling slowly to pre-crisis levels. The most vulnerable group of workers affected by the crisis are again those with low skills.

China’s economy expanded at a rate of 8.7% in 2009, more than expected earlier. This fast growth despite a slump in exports was due to massive government stimulus measures driving investment and supporting private consumption. With the expansionary fiscal policy still in place and foreign demand picking up, the Chinese economy may grow even faster in the coming years.

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Source: Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw).

S&P GSCI recovers 5.56 per cent in February

March 4, 2010--The S&P GSCI, a commodities index, increased 5.56 per cent in February after falling 7.89 per cent in January.

The index was led higher during the month by energy: the S&P GSCI Energy Index gained 6.92 per cent in February.

Coming on the heels of the longest and deepest recession in EU history, the much-anticipated Europe 2020 plan acknowledges the huge challenges ahead. The economic crisis has exposed deep flaws in an economy already under strain from globalisation, pressures on resources and an ageing population. The commission's position is that these can be overcome if Europe is willing to embrace transformation to a greener, more innovative market that fosters social wellbeing.

The strategy revolves around promoting low-carbon industries, investing in efforts to develop new products, unleashing a digital economy and modernising education and training. Five quantitative targets are proposed, including increasing the employment rate to at least 75% from the current 69% and boosting spending on research and development to 3% of gross domestic product - it is currently only 2% of GDP, significantly less than in the US and Japan.

Likewise, the plan reaffirms the EU's ‘20/20/20' climate change goals - already among the most ambitious in the world - and proposes a poverty reduction target of 25%, estimating that this would lift 20 million people out of poverty.

Turning to education, the commission recommends efforts to cut the school dropout rate to below 10% from the current 15% and to expand the share of people in their early 30s with a university degree (to 40% from 31%).

The paper proposes that governments agree on national targets that would take account of conditions in each country while helping the EU as a whole achieves its goals. The commission will monitor progress and issue warnings in cases of "inadequate response."

The EU already tracks public finances to prevent imbalances that could undermine the eurozone. The new plan would go beyond that to include other issues that could undermine EU-wide competitiveness.

The strategy identifies seven flagship initiatives the EU should take to boost growth and employment. These include programmes to improve conditions and access to finance for R&D, speed up the roll-out of high-speed internet and increase the use of renewable energy.

Government leaders are expected to debate the overall approach at the meeting later this month. The details, including national targets, would the subject of a summit later this year, possibly in June.

Europe 2020

Source: European Commission