CEE Morning Briefing: Hungarian 2Q Jobless, CETV 2Q Earnings in Focus

By Leos Rousek

TODAY'S CALENDAR 
 
Local/GMT 
 0900/0700  Hungary Apr-June unemployment rate 
 1530/1330  CETV 2Q earnings 

Hungary's latest jobless reading and second-quarter earnings of the region's largest television network, Central European Media Enterprises (CETV), will be in focus Wednesday.

The Hungarian unemployment rate in the three months to end-June may have eased, driven by temporary job contracts in the country's public sector, from a 8% level in the previous three months, some analysts said, without giving firm estimates.

Temporary public sector contracts, usually lasting for a month, may have reduced applicants for unemployment benefits by up to 200,000 people, some analysts noted.

CETV, 45%-owned by Time Warner Inc. (TWX), operates leading television networks in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, reaching about 50 million viewers.

Analysts expect CETV to have lowered its net loss to $6.6 million in the three months to end-June from $41 million in the same period last year. The improvement results from a 13% annual increase in CETV's revenue, centered on advertising sales, to $204 million in the second quarter from $180 million a year earlier.

Shares in CETV, traded on the Nasdaq and Prague Stock Exchange, closed 1.5% on the day at 51 koruna ($2.49) in the Czech capital Tuesday.

 
FOREX 
 
EUR/CZK 
Latest 0250 GMT 27.481-525 
Previous close 27.485-517 
%Chg +0.01 
 
EUR/HUF 
Latest 0250 GMT 310.72-1.25 
Previous close 310.76-1.06 
% Chg  +0.02 
 
EUR/PLN 
Latest 0250 GMT 4.1491-532 
Previous 2150 close 4.1483-529 
% Chg  +0.01 
 
FIXED INCOME 
 
Hungary 
         Tue    Mon 
3 yrs   3.07%  3.07% 
5 yrs   3.36%  3.36% 
10yrs   4.23%  4.23% 
 
Poland 
         Tue    Mon 
3 yrs   2.37%  2.28% 
5 yrs   2.76%  2.74% 
10yrs   3.22%  3.22% 
 
Czech Republic 
         Tue    Mon 
3 yrs   0.20%  0.22% 
5 yrs   0.54%  0.53% 
10yrs   1.40%  1.43% 
 
 
STOCKS 
 
WIG 20 
2,390.99-8.94-0.37% 
 
BUX 
17,865.46-38.49-0.21% 
 
PX 
961.51+3.68+0.38% 
 
 
OTHER NEWS 

POLAND: Poland's economy will continue accelerating next year, with growth reaching 4.5% annually, says PKO BP chief economist Radoslaw Bodys, adding higher-than-expected growth will be driven by fast growth in private consumption and broad infrastructure investments tied with EU funds.

UKRAINE: The European Union and the U.S., after much agonizing, adopted broad economic sanctions against Russia on Tuesday to punish Moscow's unbending stance in the Ukraine conflict.

The question for the West now is whether the move will make Russian President Vladimir Putin more cooperative or prompt him to dig in.

HUNGARY: Hungary's economy minister Tuesday said the banking system was stable and he doesn't expect major banks to leave the country.

In an interview on commercial radio Inforadio, Mihaly Varga said the capital adequacy ratio of the Hungarian banking system is ample, and many banks have already prepared for state plans to convert foreign currency loans in to forints, by provisioning.

-Veronika Gulyas in Budapest contributed to this article.

Write to Leos Rousek at [e-mail]

Go to http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope for the new WSJ and Dow Jones blog on Central and Eastern Europe, covering business, politics, society and more, written by our correspondents across the region.