IGCP is back in the market and 4 more things you need to know to start your day – Markets

This Wednesday, Portugal returns to the market for two Treasury Bill (BT) auctions. The goal, according to the Institute for Treasury and Public Debt Management last Friday, is to seek funding of between 750 and 1 billion euros over three to 11 months. In the last 11-month debt auction, in October 2022, the rate reached 2.104%, breaking the 2% mark for the first time. Already in the last issue three months ago, last June, Portugal placed €500 million in BT issues, with an average interest rate remaining at negative 0.302%.

The oil company is today starting a €500 million share buyback program that will run throughout the year. The start date for this was announced by the company on Tuesday and comes shortly after another one worth 150 million euros, which allowed it to reduce its share capital by 14,139,087 euros.

The final figures for Spanish inflation in January are out today, as well as the evolution of price increases in Poland and the UK. December industrial production and trade balance data in the euro area are also released. Here, the INE publishes employment statistics for the fourth quarter of last year, dedicated to cross-state labor market flows.

The president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, will speak from the European Parliament, where she will be present in plenary. The ECB chief’s words will be listened to carefully as investors try to understand the monetary authority’s next steps. The European Commission announced this Tuesday that it estimates inflation, measured by the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), to be 5.4% this year, up from 8.1% last year.

The Energy Information Administration (under the US Department of Energy) publishes last week’s US crude oil inventory levels, as well as distillate and gasoline inventories.