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ISEQ lower-Doubts on Irish debt deal

Monday, February 18 09:10:42

The ISEQ is a little lower this morning at 3,658, down just 5 points as European markets ease a little on Corporate earnings.

Doubts regarding Ireland's promissory note deal are discussed by Davy Stockbrokers:

Stocks were little changed on Friday. The Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.8pc and the S and P500 was down 0.1pc. European shares fell on the back of weaker utilities and banks, with the Eurostoxx indices for the sectors both down 0.6pc. UK retail sales fell by 0.6pc in January.

However, the impact of the bad weather may have driven sales down at the turn of the year. Food sales declined by 1.6pc on the month. So there may be a temporary element of volatility in the January figures. But revisions to previous months mean that on the year retail sales volumes were up just 0.2pc, effectively flat through 2012. The revisions provide stronger evidence that the Olympic Games gave a welcome but temporary boost to the UK retail sector in 2012, with the underlying trend remaining weak.

Yesterday, the Irish government dismissed reports that the promissory note deal could unravel. On Friday, Bundesbank head, Jens Weidmann, had expressed dissatisfaction with the new funding arrangements, indicating that the deal came perilously close to breaking the ban on monetary financing by extending the term of ECB funding to 14 years.

ECB President, Mario Draghi, may provide further clarity today, speaking at the European Parliament, not least on his views that the governing council will review the new funding arrangements. However, the reality is that the new Irish bonds have now been issued. It will be very hard for the ECB to accelerate the sale of the bonds onto the market, especially as Ireland emerges from the programme of EU/IMF funding support according to Davy Stockbrokers.