Sweden shocked markets on Thursday by introducing negative interest rates, launching bond purchases and saying it could take further steps to battle falling prices. NAB Head of Markets Strategy Nick Parsons says Sweden's negative rate cut is a token gesture.

SHOWS: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 12, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. SLATE, READING (English): 'SO LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A CEASEFIRE DEAL IN UKRAINE - HOW'S THE NEWS GOING DOWN?'

2. NAB, HEAD OF MARKETS STRATEGY, NICK PARSONS, SAYING:

'Well I think the Ukrainian news is most ably represented in the performance of the DAX Index in Germany. Let's remind ourselves that 17 percent of all Germany's exports go to Russia. Germany is the one country where activity has been hit hardest by the sanctions that are being put on the Russian state. So to the extent that talks in Ukraine, or the talks about Ukraine to be more precise, might produce some concrete and acceptable conclusions then you would think that it is sensible to see the reaction that we are seeing in German shares. The fact that the DAX has reached record highs over the course of the last few weeks is all down to QE money. A trillion dollars of QE money from the ECB is not coincidental to the DAX's rise. But remember just how volatile and how concerned investors were back in the early part of the fourth quarter of last year when sanctions were first imposed. So anything that suggests that sanctions might be lifted is going to be a positive for European equity markets, more of a positive for Europe than it is for the United States.'

3. SLATE, READING (English): 'HOW SIGNIFICANT IS SWEDEN'S NEGATIVE RATE CUT?'

4. NAB, HEAD OF MARKETS STRATEGY, NICK PARSONS, SAYING:

'I think Sweden's move is essentially tokenism, moving to an official policy rate of minus 10 basis points is not going to occupy the front pages of the business newspapers in the rest of the world tomorrow. And its QE programme amounting to 10 billion krona I think would be best described in lower case rather than capitals, it is probably the smallest amount of QE that we have seen anywhere. So I don't think it is anything more than tokenism. It does establish the view that they wish to see an easy monetary policy continuing for some time. But if you look at the activity indicators in Sweden, if you look at employment, if you look at GDP, if you look at retail sales, if you look at the housing market. If you were to look at all those without casting an eye on CPI you would really have to question why they have bothered to do it.'