- European markets are weighed by political turmoil in Italy, where the new anti-establishment government proposed a 2019 budget with a much wider deficit than the previous administration’s target, setting up a clash with the European Commission.
- The government late Thursday night offered a budget with a deficit of 2.4% of GDP for the next three years, in a defeat for its economy minister, who had sought a deficit set as low as 1.6% next year, hoping to respect European Union demands that Italy progressively cut the fiscal gap to trim its debt.
- The full budget will be unveiled in October and will be scrutinized by the European Commission, which could reject it.
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