WSJ:Financial Markets Steady, Euro Ministers in Focus
By NINA BAINS
Financial markets were steady Monday as investors awaited news from a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers who will discuss Greek progress with its financial rescue package and potential further aid for Cyprus.
Also on the agenda are plans for direct bank bailouts by the European Stability Mechanism. Greece's government borrowing costs ticked higher ahead of the meeting. The euro, which has rallied in recent weeks, was steady and will likely be in focus all week as a meeting of the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations in Moscow is expected to discuss currency devaluations.
France's CAC-40 slightly outperformed European markets while holidays across Asia, including China, Hong Kong and Japan, left those markets shut. French industrial production data came in slightly better than expected, falling 0.1% in December from November, against a forecast of a 0.2% drop.
Shares in Novo Nordisk A/S slumped after the Denmark-based pharmaceutical maker failed to win U.S. approval for a new insulin drug and Dutch retailer Royal Ahold N.V . advanced after it sold its 60% stake in ICA AB, the largest supermarket operator in Sweden, for more than $3 billion.
U.S. stocks rallied broadly on Friday, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index to a five-year high and the S&P 500 rose for a sixth-straight week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly rose above 14,000 for the first time since Tuesday.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in December as petroleum imports fell to the lowest level in more than a decade. The deficit narrowed to $38.5 billion from $48.6 billion in November, the biggest contraction in nearly four years. Economists said the data may mean the initial read on fourth-quarter gross domestic product, a 0.1% contraction, would be revised to a growth figure.
