Market Information Thursday 23 July 2020

Based on figures published yesterday by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), Dutch companies postpone their investments during the corona lockdown. Investments in tangible fixed assets, such as factories, machines and commercial vehicles, decreased in May by 18.8% (year-on-year difference). This is the largest decrease ever recorded. In April, investments already decreased by more than 11.0% (year-on-year).

Figures published by the European statistics agency Eurostat show that the budget deficit of the eurozone has increased significantly in the first quarter of this year. This can be explained by the fact that governments provide many funds to fight the corona crisis. The euro area budget deficit increased to 2.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2020, compared to a deficit of 0.7% of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2019. The government debt of euro countries averaged 86.3% of GDP in the first quarter. In a non-crisis situation, European budgetary rules apply a maximum debt of up to 60% of GDP, but this will not be applied for the time being due to the crisis.

Sales of existing homes in the United States increased sharply in June, compared to May. This was reported by the American association of brokers. Sales increased by 20.7% on a monthly basis.

The 6M Euribor is unchanged at -0.35% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap decreased with 1 basis point to -0.22% compared to previous business day.

In the attachment, today’s market data on money and capital market rates as well as other rates are presented.