SERBIA:

NBS: Key policy rate kept on hold
At its meeting yesterday, the NBS Executive Board voted to keep the key policy rate on hold, at 3.0%. In making the decision, the Executive Board was guided primarily by the expected movement of inflation and its underlying factors in the domestic and international environment. Inflation has been moving in line with the Executive Board’s expectations – it has been low and stable for the sixth year in a row, measuring 2.4% y-o-y in February. Core inflation trended similarly, equaling 1.3% y-o-y in February. The Executive Board expects inflation to remain stable within the target tolerance band (3.0±1.5%), while medium-term inflation expectations of the financial and corporate sectors are moving along the same lines.
Source: NBS

Serbia's defence industry exports hit $897 mln in 2018
Serbia's defence industry exports reached $897 million (796 million euro) in 2018, backed by strong sales of firearms and ammunition, a government official said. "The exports of the ten state-owned defence industry factories rose by 13.9%, whereas the total value of export permits, not only those of the ten state-owned companies, amounted to $897 million," Nenad Miloradovic, an advisor to the minister of infrastructure, said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug on Monday. Exports of Serbia's defence industry totalled $570 million in 2017, defence minister Aleksandar Vulin said in May 2018. In 2018, the largest number of permits was issued for exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, followed by the U.S., Miloradovic said. A large number of permits was also recorded for exports to Bulgaria, Romania, Belgium, Cyprus and Germany.
Source: Seenews

REGION:

Consortium for reconstruction of Hungarian section of Budapest-Belgrade railway to be selected by end-April?
Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said that the consortium for the reconstruction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway, financed by China, might be selected by the end of April. After talking to representatives of the Chinese Exim Bank, which largely finances the project, in Beijing, Varga said that the reconstruction of the railway, which should be completed by 2023, would enable Hungary to remain competitive when it comes to transport routes for Chinese companies which ship goods to Europe. The Hungarian government announced in December that it would open a new tendering procedure for the project, as the initial bids had been 20% higher compared to the estimated expense of around EUR 1.8 billion for the Hungarian section.
Source: Ekapija

INO:

Dow falls a second day, loses 190 points with investors nervous about earnings, European stocks fall amid US tariff threat
The Dow lost 190.44 points to finish the day at 26,150.58 as Boeing stock came under pressure again on concerns about 737 Max jet production delays. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 2,878.20, led by losses in industrials, energy and financial companies. The Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 0.5% to 7,909.28 as Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Alphabet all declined.
American aircraft giant Boeing dropped nearly 1.5% Tuesday as investor angst over its decision on Friday to cut production of its 737 Max jets kept pressure on the stock. Regulators and stakeholders alike are scrutinizing the company in light of two recent fatal 737 Max crashes. The prolonged grounding of the 737 Max planes forced American Airlines on Tuesday to lower its revenues guidance for the first fiscal quarter. The airline cut its total expected revenue per seat mile, a key industry measure of performance, to a range of flat to 1%, down from a prior estimate of flat to 2%.
Though American Airlines stock fell 1.6% Tuesday, selling in major industrials names wasn’t confined to the aerospace industry.
Disney, meanwhile, rose 1.6% Tuesday after brokerage Cowen upgraded the Dow component and told clients that its film pipeline should boost profits over the next few years.
European stocks fell Tuesday on the back of a fresh tariff threat from the United States government. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 index closed provisionally 0.35% lower, with most sectors and bourses in negative territory. It comes after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday proposed a list of European Union products on which to slap tariffs as retaliation for European aircraft subsidies, with Airbus down nearly 2%.
Source: CNBC