SERBIA:

Serbia's GDP growth accelerates to 2.5% y/y in Q4 - flash estimate
The Serbian economy expanded by a real 2.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017, the country's statistical office said in a flash estimate on Wednesday. Serbia’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth quickened to 2.1% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2017 from 1.3% in the previous quarter. The statistical office said it will release more details on the fourth-quarter GDP on February 28.
Source: SORS, Seenews

Serbia's industrial output growth slows in 2017 to 3.5%
Serbia's industrial production increased 3.5% in 2017, after growing 4.7% in 2016, statistical office data showed on Wednesday. In December alone, Serbia's industrial production increased 0.5% year-on-year, after growing 5.5% in November, the data indicated. On a seasonally adjusted monthly comparison basis, industrial output rose 1.7% in December, following a 1.2% decrease in November.
Source: Seenews, SORS

Serbia mulls motorway from Cacak to border with Bosnia
Serbia is analysing a project for the construction of a motorway connecting Cacak, in the country's central part, to Kotroman, on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic has said. The motorway is projected to run through Visegrad on Bosnian territory before reaching the country's capital Sarajevo, Vucic said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug on Monday.
Source: Seenews

REGION:

SBITOP Index loses 0.06 percent
SBITOP Index lost 0.06 percent and closed at 831.65 points on Wednesday. Blue-chip stocks, which gained the most were Zavarovalnica Triglav (+0.96%) and Petrol (+0.86%), while Gorenje shares performed the worst and lost 3 percent. Telekom Slovenije also lost 1.14 percent during the trading day.
Source: Ilirika

EIB agrees to lend EUR 50 million to SKB Group to support SMEs in Slovenia
The European Investment Bank agreed to lend 50 million euros to SKB Group to help them support around 500 small and medium-sized companies. Part of funding will be divided among SMEs employing young people under 30, which are taking part in the initiative Jobs for Youth. The EIB has committed itself to strengthen its cooperation with commercial banks and fund more similar projects supporting Slovenian SMEs.
Source: Ilirika

INO:

Dow closes 73 points higher, capping off best month since March 2016, European stocks mixed
U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, capping off a strong start to 2018. The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 notched their best monthly performances since March 2016. The Dow gained 72.5 points to close at 26,149.39, with Boeing rising 4.9 percent and hitting an all-time high. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent and finished at 2,823.81, with real estate as the best-performing sector. The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.1 percent to close at 7,411.48.
The Fed left rates unchanged, but said it expects inflation to move "up this year and to stabilize" around its 2 percent target. Treasury yields rose on the back of the statement.
Boeing, Eli Lilly and, Anthem among the latest companies that reported quarterly results. Their earnings and revenues topped analyst expectations. Thus far, corporate earnings have mostly surpassed analyst expectations.
European markets closed lower Wednesday afternoon as investors digested corporate earnings and awaited the next policy decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.17 percent lower with business sectors pointing in different directions. While the French and German bourses ended Wednesday's trade close to the flat line, the U.K. FTSE dropped in afternoon trade to close 0.72 percent lower.
Swedish clothing retailer H&M was the biggest laggard, with stock down 10.6 percent as the company's latest earnings report was accompanied by news that it had struggled to adapt to online retail. Elsewhere, Banco Santander reported a 4 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit from a year earlier. Spain's biggest lender said Wednesday that solid underlying results had been offset by extraordinary impairments in its U.S. unit. Its shares finished the day's trading up 0.9 percent.
According to Eurostat estimate, inflation in the euro area slowed to 1.3 percent in January, down from 1.4 percent last December, proving the ECB and its cautiousness right. Inflation excluding energy and unprocessed food, however, rose to 1.2 percent, after a puzzling drop to 1.1 percent in October 2017. Unemployment rate in the euro zone was 8.7 percent in December 2017, staying stable compared to November but remaining at the lowest rate since 2009.
SORCE: CNBC, Ilirika