Europe manufacturing activity on a slow pace

Markets will focus their attention this week on Greece. A late payment of the IMF loan repayment of €460m on 9 April cannot be ruled out. Greece sent a list of reforms last week in the hope that it will allow the (partial) disbursement of the €7.2bn instalment under the remaining troika tranche. 

However, it is not sure that there is sufficient agreement for the Eurogroup to meet and decide before the next scheduled meeting (24 April). On the data front, the final estimate of the PMI should slightly disappoint from the flash, yet remaining at levels consistent with solid GDP growth in H1 15. 

German industrial output and export figures should point to a slow pace of recovery in the manufacturing sector in February although factory orders might suggest some improvement. French Industrial output for February and BoF business sentiment for March should also support the slightly firmer picture of the French economy. 

"we expect the Swiss headline inflation rate to rise slightly to -0.7% yoy in March, driven by higher oil prices over the past two months", Says Societe Generale.