European equities closed higher on Wednesday afternoon, as business activity in the euro zone expanded at its fastest pace since June 2011 in January, with stocks in Greece staging a rally on the back of a media report suggesting the maturity of loans to Athens could be extended. Bloomberg reported that two European Union officials had informed the media organization that the next bailout for Greece may include extending the maturity to 50 years from 30 years, and cutting the interest rate on some previous aid. Greek bond yields fell sharply following the report. Other European markets focused on data from the U.S. which showed that private companies in the U.S. created 175,000 new positions in January. The figure was a bit lower than expected but in keeping with the pace of job creation over the past two years. Nothing changed in December or January fundamentally, Moodys economist Mark Zanki told CNBC. The economy is still improving.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 16:53:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015