S&P Dow Jones Indices Market Attributes: Europe Index Dashboard

HIGHLIGHTS:

•	A rough July continued into an initially rough August, but the mood turned more positive in the second half of the month; the S&P Europe 350 finished up by 2%. The U.K markets which face an interesting test in just under three weeks via the Scottish referendum on independence, also gained 2%.
•	10 Year German government bonds ended August with an astonishingly low yield of 0.88% - the lowest since Germany's creation. Judging by the record low pan-Eurozone sovereign yields, the market expects the ECB to announce further stimulus in September; the Euro also weakened by around 2% versus the U.S. dollar.
•	The Ukraine has dominated the headlines and, in response to evidence of further Russian military involvement, a new round of sanctions is expected over the weekend. Despite this backdrop, volatility measures fell slightly over the month.