European Central Bank

The European Central Bank’s pledge to keep rates at historic lows for some time has fueled demand for the higher-yielding bonds of some of the bloc’s weakest members.

Yields on 10-year Greek bonds dropped to as low as 5.48 percent, a level not seen since January 2010, while Portuguese equivalents were within a whisker of euro-era lows after dropping 14 bps to 3.24 percent.

By Sarka Halas

Cyprus is preparing a benchmark public debt sale just a year after it was bailed out, which if successful would make it the quickest return to the bond market by a sovereign after a rescue.

The issuer has mandated Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, UBS and VTB Capital to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings in Europe ahead of the deal.

Greek consumer prices fell 2 percent in May, with the annual pace of deflation accelerating from a 1.3 percent fall in prices the previous month, data from the country's statistics service showed on Tuesday.

Eurozone overnight interbank interest rates fell to their lowest levels on record on Tuesday, while a sharp rally in government bonds started to ease for some countries.

Strategists said money markets were continuing to adjust to last week's cut in the European Central Bank's main interest rates and its promise of fresh liquidity for banks, which should help short-term rates stable.

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is due to meet European Central Bank president Mario Draghi in Frankfurt on Tuesday afternoon.

 ECB measures pave way for gov’t to resort to international markets again to avoid another bailout package

By Dimitris Kontogiannis

Cypriot gross domestic product contracted by 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014, a slight improvement on the 0.8 percent drop in the previous three months, the latest official estimate showed on Friday.

The figure is the same as given in a flash estimate by the state statistical service on May 15.

By David Goodman and Lucy Meakin

Mario Draghi has once again proved himself to be the bond market’s best friend.

A jump in government securities across the euro area sent yields to record lows on Friday, inspired by a fresh package of stimulus measures from the European Central Bank.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

Senior local bank officials describe the European Central Bank measures on Thursday aimed at tackling deflation and low growth in Europe as particularly important. However they emphasize that no one should expect Greece’s cash flow to suddenly increase as a result.

The European Central Bank’s decision to cut its main interest rate and positive local unemployment data gave the bourse benchmark the push required to clear the 1,280-point mark on increased turnover on Thursday, in what is evolving into one of the best weeks of the year for stock prices.