European markets have opened with tempered optimism, as for the first time in over a month we've managed to enjoy a weekend uncluttered by European, political and fiscal fireworks.
Capital controls are still in place in Greece, although the population’s ability to withdraw a weekly allowance of €420 in one go will make life a little easier. Considering the distrust that must be rife in Greece, it's likely we'll see numerous banks struggle as they physically run out of cash in the first couple of days this week. A little more disconcerting is the escalation in German political squabbling, as tensions between Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schauble look to be heading towards breaking point, and a disjointed German leadership is the last thing that the eurozone needs.
With the relative calm that has engulfed Europe, traders are feeling a little more comfortable and focusing on equities and the deluge of corporate data hitting them in this latest reporting season. Fresh from the news that CEO Antony Jenkins was leaving Barclays, this weekend's speculation hinted towards another round of 30,000 redundancies, surprisingly causing barely a flutter in the company’s share price. With gold hitting five-year lows and breaking major support levels, it is not too much of a surprise to see the FTSE fallers list dominated by the mining sector.
The US reporting season looks to kick it up another gear this week with some of the bigger names like Hasbro, Morgan Stanley, Verizon, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo all revealing their numbers within the first two days alone. Analytical expectations for this latest reporting season have been so low that the bar looks to have been set for limbo dancing rather than hurdling.
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