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After two relatively weak weeks the international stock exchanges seem to have come to live. Dow Jones closed the week with 9864.9 points or with an increase with 3.7%. Nasdaq closed with 4% increase and reached 2138.1 points. S&P 500 closed the week with 1071.4 points – growth of 4.4%. The London FTSE 100 followed the US indexes and registered growth of 3.5% and closed with 5157.5 points. The Japanese Nikkei also registered an increase – 2.7% and closed with 10016.4 points. In Athens investors reacted good to the new government and proof of that is the 5% growth of the general index of the Athenian stock exchange.

One of the first changes of the new government will be in the tax law and more specifically lowering taxes for families with small income and increasing taxes for families with more than €60 000 income. More detailed information is expected soon after the Ministry of Finances reviews the Greek economy and calculates the budget deficit and the future inflation rate. It is expected that the new law will calculate taxes in levels – 15% for income up to €20 000, 25% for income between €20 000 and €30 000, 35% for income between €30 000 and €60 000 (until now the 35% roof was €75 000), and a tax of 45% for income over €60 000.

Tax code reforms are part of the 100 day program of Papandreou, which includes a stimulus package of €3 billion. Though, according to Wall Street Journal those reforms will doubtfully help out the budget deficit, which expected to exceed 10% of the GDP and the national debt, which is already over 100% of the GDP.

Around the world, petrol and gold prices increased this week. The gold hit a record price of $1048 per ounce and the main reason for this is the weak Dollar. Petrol price jumped to $72 this week after a report from the International Energy Agency, which registered increase in demand.