EU:-ECB officials signal more rate increases this year as economy strengthens,EU-Greek default drive risks reviving Euro-region contagion as bonds plunge,US- US long-term credit rating outlook revised to negative by S&P on deficit...

EU: ECB officials signal more rate increases this year as economy strengthens

European Central Bank Governing Council members signaled they will keep tightening monetary policy this year to curb inflation as the economy strengthens. Investor expectations that the benchmark interest rate will be increased by another 50 basis points in 2011 are “well- founded,” Austria’s Ewald Nowotny told Bloomberg News in Washington on 16 April. Luc Coene of Belgium said in an interview yesterday that monetary “conditions are too accommodative.” (Bloomberg)

EU: Greek default drive risks reviving Euro-region contagion as bonds plunge

European investors and politicians prodding Greece to restructure its debt may end up wishing they hadn’t. Talk of restructuring spurred by Germany risks re-igniting Europe’s debt crisis, enveloping Spain just weeks after European leaders said bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal ended contagion. Under a Greek default, Europe’s financial system would strain as banks in and outside Greece and holders of Greek bonds, such as the European Central Bank and domestic pension funds, tally losses. “By restructuring Greek debt you also may precipitate a crisis in Spain,” David Watts, a strategist at CreditSights Inc. in London, said in a telephone interview. “At that point it doesn’t matter how much you’ve saved by restructuring Greece, the fallout from Spain is much greater. The issue comes back to not knowing the ultimate cost.” (Bloomberg)

US: US long-term credit rating outlook revised to negative by S&P on deficit

Standard & Poor’s put the U.S. government on notice that it risks losing its AAA credit rating unless policy makers agree on a plan by 2013 to reduce budget deficits and the national debt.“If an agreement is not reached and meaningful implementation does not begin by then, this would in our view render the US fiscal profile meaningfully weaker than that of peer ‘AAA’ sovereigns,” New York-based S&P said yesterday in a report that maintained its top rating on US long-term debt while lowering the outlook to “negative” for the first time.. (Bloomberg)

China: China's new home price gains slow in Beijing, Shanghai on government curbs

China’s new home price growth slowed in Beijing and Shanghai in March as the government intensified property curbs, sending the property stock index to one-month high. New home prices in the capital of Beijing rose 4.9% in March from a year earlier, easing from a 6.8% gain in February, the statistics bureau said on its website today. In Shanghai, the country’s financial hub, prices climbed 1.7% last month, down from 2.3% growth in February. Of the 70 cities monitored by the government, 67 cities posted gains, down from 68 in the first two months, the data showed. The government said last week that its measures are working. (Bloomberg)

EU: Portugal aid talks under a cloud

A crucial new phase of Portugal's bailout negotiations began under a cloud yesterday after an anti-euro party in Finland that has vowed to derail the pending rescue scored strong gains in an election. Portuguese debt premiums rose to new record highs in early trading, also pushed up by talk of Greek debt restructuring, which Athens again denied. Representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are in Lisbon to set the terms for what would be the Eurozone's third bailout in a year after multi-billion euro deals for Greece and Ireland. (Bloomberg)

Singapore: Singapore March NODX rises more than expected

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) grew more than expected in March from the prior year, data from the International Enterprise Singapore showed Monday. NODX increased 10% year-on-year in March following the 6.9% rise in February, due to non-electronic exports. Economists had expected the growth rate to ease to 4.5%. On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX decreased by 2.9% in March, compared to the previous month's 2% growth. At the same time, non-oil re-exports fell 2.1%, smaller than the 4.2% decline in the previous month. (Bloomberg)