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U.S Existing Home Sales Rose Unexpectedly In January

Sales of  previously owned homes in the U.S unexpecteldy rose 4.3 percent to a 4.57 million annual pace in January, from a revised 4.38 million annual pace in December, the National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday. Analysts' expected a 1.1 percent gain to 4.66 million annual pace last month.

Ftich downgrades Greece says write-offs constitute restricted default  

Fitch Ratings today once again cut the Greek credit rating to C from CCC and said that the new write-offs will constitute as a “restricted default”.

According to the rating agency, Fitch sees that the bond swap with that is said to see 53.5% write-down on the value of Greek government bonds would be a “distressed debt exchange (DDE)” and after the news was confirmed from the Eurogroup of the agreement on the private sector involvement the rating has been lowered to Greece to C from CCC “indicating that default is highly likely in the near term.”

In the statement agency said “Fitch considers that the proposal to reduce Greece's public debt burden via a debt exchange with private creditors will, if completed, constitute a rating default,” which according to Fitch will trigger the downgrade to “Restricted Default ('RD') upon completion” and thereafter once the exchange is completed with new securities the rating will be again raised and removed from the RD category. 

Euro zone industrial new orders expands beyond expectation

The euro zone released the industrial new orders for December, where the seasonally adjusted monthly index expanded by 1.9% from the previous drop of 1.3%, beating estimates of 0.5%.

In addition, the annual non-seasonally adjusted index dropped less than expected by 1.7% from the revised previous drop of 2.5% from 2.7%, beating estimates of 2.8% drop.

BoE disagreed over APF increase two members prefer more easing  

The Bank of England minutes for the policy meeting held on 8 and 9 February unexpectedly showed a split among members in February over the Asset Purchase Facility as two members unexpectedly called for a bigger increase in purchases on the risk that CPI inflation will materially fall below target.

The vote on the interest rate was undoubtedly unanimous as the nine members opted to leave rates steady at the historic 0.5% low, nevertheless on the Asset Purchases Facility the vote was more dovish as two members diverted from the majority where David Miles and Adam Posen voted against the preposition favoring 75 billion pounds increase in the APF rather than the majority that favored 50 billion pounds increase to 325 billion pounds.

French Manufacturing PMI expands while Services slows  

The French Manufacturing sector expanded in February according to the advanced PMI estimate as the index rose to 50.2 from 48.5.

The services sector on the other hand slowed as the index dropped to 50.3 from 52.3 in January.

Euro Area Services and Manufacturing Sectors Contract in February  

After a positive start in January the main economic sectors in the euro area resumed their frail improvement and maintained a weak status only parallel to the current mild recession status.

The February advanced PMI estimate reported the return of the sectors into contract as the index fell again below 50. The index gauging the aggregate performance, the PMI composite dropped to 49.7 from 50.4 and was below the expected 50.5.

The Manufacturing PMI was 49.0 recovering from 48.8 the previous month yet missed estimates for expansion of 50.6 while the Services PMI slowed to 49.4 after 50.4 and missed 50.6 expectations. 

German PMI manufacturing and services figures disappoint markets in February  

Germany started the session today with the purchasing managers' advanced indexes for manufacturing and services, where the PMI manufacturing index declined in February to 50.1 from 51.0, below expectations of 51.5.

Moreover, the PMI services also retreated in February, where the index slumped to 52.6 from the previous of 53.7, missing median estimates of 53.9.

Chinese PMI manufacturing by the HSBC

The Chinese economy released the data for the PMI manufacturing by the HSBC, where it advanced to 49.7, compared with the prior reading of 48.8.

Dow Hits 13,000 For the First Time Since 2008

U.S. Stocks advanced in trading Tuesday, sending the benchmarks to a four-year high after Greece scooped up a second bailout,  but refraining to join declines in European equities amid concerns the region's debt crisis will carry on. Treasuries waned and the euro picked up.

Unlike the European markets, Equities in the U.S streched today's winning streak amid optimsim over Greece after European finance ministers awarded 130 billion euros ($173 billion) in aid that will help the debt-troubled nation to stave off a chaotic default in March.

Furthermore, equities climbed above their 2011 highs as earnings from some of the biggest retailers including Home Deport Inc to Macy's Inc overshadowed fears of the worse that is yet to come and risks revolting the gloomy outlook of Greece's economy even after the bailout.

The 17-nation currency gained against its U.S counterpart, sending the EUR/USD pair to trade around $1.3262 from the open of $1.3242. The dollar was little changed against its peers after the S&P topped its highest close in fourt years, leaving the dollar index to trade around 78.96 adter opening at 78.97. 

At 11:39 a.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 37.69 points or 0.29 percent to 12987.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 4.46 points or 0.33 percent to 1365.69. The NASDAQ Composite Index inclined 9.05 points or 0.31 percent to 2960.83.

Canada Retail Sales Down 0.2 Percent, Wholesale Sales Up 0.9 Percent

Statistics Canada said today retail sales in Canada matched analysts' medain estimates of 0.2 percent in December, but short from a revised 0.4 percent in November. Retail sales excluding autos were flat unchanged in December, after rising a revised 0.4 percent in November.

Wholesale Sales in Canada rose 0.9 percent in December, after falling a revised 0.3 percent in the prior month, beating median estimates of 0.6 percent.

UK budget deficit turns to surplus in January

UK's budget squeeze turned to surplus of 7.8 billion pounds in January, beating forecasts of 6.3 billion pounds surplus, from December's reading which was revised to 14.0 billion pounds deficit from the initial 13.7 billion pounds deficit, according to the public sector reading excluding interventions.

Public sector net borrowing with support to banks also recorded a surplus of 10.7 billion pounds compared with a revised deficit of 11.1 billion pounds, which was 10.8 billion pounds deficit initially, exceeding estimates of 9.1 billion pounds surplus.

Public-sector net cash requirement showed a surplus of 16.8 billion pounds compared with the prior deficit of 22.9 billion pounds which was revised to 22.8 billion pounds deficit, while analysts' projections referred to a surplus of 24.7 billion pounds.  

Swiss money supply M3 rises in January

Swiss money supply M3 rose to 8.2% in the year ended January compared with a revised of 7.4% and analysts predictions of 7.7%.         

Swiss trade surplus narrows, exports slides 3.4%

Swiss trade balance for the month of January showed that the surplus narrowed to 1.55 billion francs compared with the prior surplus of 2.07 billion francs, which was downwardly revised to 2.01billion francs, while analysts estimated the surplus to widen to 2.50 billion francs.

Exports plunged 3.4% from the revised 6.4%, which was 6.1% initially. Imports rose 3.6%, lower than the prior 7.6% which was revised up to 8.4%.  

Japan's all industry activity index

The Japanese economy released December's data for the all industry activity index, where it advanced to 1.3%, compared with the prior month's reading of -1.1%, which was initially -1.0%, yet it missed economists forecast of 1.5%. 

The RBNZ 2 yr inflation expectation

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand issued the RBNZ 2 yr inflation expectation, where it retreated to 2.5%, compared with the prior reading of 2.8%