Markets remain sour as quiet Monday continues

A quiet Monday morning, something of a trend in March, has led to more market stagnation with the Eurozone seeing big losses.

The FTSE continued dancing around 7000; the index showed no signs of posting significant growth, yet at the same time has held onto this level with remarkable vigour given the latest three digit falls in the Eurozone. It even managed to withstand a plummeting CBI industrial orders figure, with the index falling to 0 from last month’s 10, its biggest decline in 2 years; the struggles in industry just further reinforce the claims that Osborne’s economic recovery is still too lopsided.

Balfour Beatty is sinking after reports that this Wednesday’s full year report will see the company fall into the red and potentially suspend its dividend; the only thing preventing a full-blown sell-off is how well telegraphed this decline has been, with 4 profit warnings in 12 months. On the opposite end of the spectrum, gold miner Centamin announced a higher-than-expected dividend, quickly wafting away the stench of a 29% fall in core profit and leading the stock to near 14% growth as the day went on.

The Eurozone has been dominated this morning by more German/Greek discussions, with reports and counter reports on how this afternoon’s meeting will go and the word ‘trust’ being flung about by either side. Germany insisted that the Greek debt crisis ‘won’t be solved tonight’, calming expectations that no-one anywhere had at all, whilst Tsipras and the rest of Athens remain firmly on their party line that Greece is in dire need of help, without actually providing any sign of the specific reforms the Eurogroup has asked for. This provided a less-than-positive environment for the Eurozone indices, with the DAX and CAC both seeing significant declines, whilst the euro looked spirited against the dollar.

With the ‘radical’ parties in Europe, including the victorious Syriza in Greece, the slightly less victorious Front National in France and the chaotic UKIP in the UK all disrupting the political landscape of their respective countries, the weekend’s regional elections were a big moment for Spain’s Podemos. However, the left-wing party came third behind the mainstream parties with 15 seats; an impressive amount for such an embryonic party, but nonetheless disappointing given the maintenance of the country’s two-party system. It suggests that the Spanish might be losing their appetite for ‘revolution’ as the spectre of Syriza’s debt-nightmare continues to hang over Europe like the sword of Damocles.