ECB Governing Council member Vujcic: There is a need for a smooth transition to interest rate cuts.

ECB Governing Council member Vujcic: GDP data supports the view that the euro zone is in a soft landing scenario.

European Central Bank Governing Council member Vujcic: More inclined to cut interest rates in 25 basis point increments. Interest rates will not be cut at every meeting, and may be paused (in the middle).

ECB Governing Council member Vujcic: There won’t be much difference if interest rates are cut in April or June.

ECB Governing Council member Vujcic: More data is needed before making a decision to cut interest rates.

UK Government: We plan to publish immigration regulations on February 19th that will remove the right of care workers and senior care workers to bring their dependents to the UK. The regulations will come into effect on March 11th.

USD/CAD fell back below 1.34, down 0.11% on the day.

ECB Governing Council member Cazacs: Interest rates are likely to be cut this year.

The Central Bank of Russia: Banking industry profits are expected to reach 2.3-2.8 trillion Russian rubles in 2024.

Central Bank of Russia: Russian banking industry profits will reach a record 3.3 trillion Russian rubles in 2023, compared with 203 billion Russian rubles in 2022.

Financial website Forexlive commented on the Eurozone GDP data: The Eurozone economy barely avoided a technical recession in the last quarter of last year. This is largely due to strong growth in peripheral countries, most prominently Spain and Portugal. A more upbeat performance could help offset the poor performance of the German economy.

Tesla (TSLA.O) rose nearly 2% in pre-market trading.

Morgan Stanley: (Saudi Aramco halting capacity growth) should support Saudi Aramco’s dividend distribution in the short term; may pose headwinds to the oilfield services industry.

Morgan Stanley: (Regarding Saudi Aramco’s decision to stop production capacity growth) It may have a positive impact on oil prices in the short term.

Bernstein: Lowered the target price of JD.com (JD.O) from $31 to $28.

UK Insolvency Service: The pace of company insolvencies is the highest since the third quarter of 2014.

UK Insolvency Service: The number of company insolvencies in England and Wales in 2023 reached the highest level since 1993.

Tangen, CEO of Norway’s sovereign fund: The weight of the energy industry is now balanced.

Tangen, CEO of Norway’s sovereign fund: holds a balanced weight on technology stocks.