Yesterday, Reuters reported that Greece is preparing to issue a new five-year bond. Last August, the country emerged from its third international bailout programme since 2010 and the issuing of new bonds is a means to generate some much-needed capital. Put simply, people will be able to purchase bonds from the Greek government which offer a fixed income for five years, when investors will have the option to receive their initial investment back. However, it is possible that the investment will be seen as highly risky, which may mean the government will be forced to offer a high rate of interest.
It is all quiet on the eurozone front today, but tomorrow is an extremely busy day, beginning with the German Gfk consumer confidence reading for February. We will also see (deep breath), eurozone business and consumer confidence for January, and services, industrial and economic sentiment readings for the same month. Then there is the preliminary reading of the German inflation rate. Today then, should be seen as the calm before the potential storm.