British exports rebalance away from Eurozone September 9, 2014 British firms are weaning themselves off their historic reliance on sales to EU countries, finding alternative markets further afield instead, official figures showed yesterday. The sustained economic malaise in the Eurozone has pushed UK exporters to other countries, with sales to the US, and the UAE rising particularly sharply in July. Exports of goods to non-EU countries [...]
How incompetent policymakers have kept the Eurozone in perpetual crisis September 9, 2014 THE EUROZONE lurches into yet another crisis, with fears of deflation and a further drop in output. There are several dominant explanations as to why Europe has been unable to recover from the crisis. Depending on their tastes, most commentators subscribe to them either on their own, or in various combinations. One puts the blame [...]
Eurozone GDP: Stagnant in the second quarter, grew just 0.7 pc in the 12 months to July September 5, 2014 The ECB has released its revised second-quarter GDP figures showing the Eurozone grew 0.7 per cent in the 12 months to the end of July, with the EU 28 expanding 1.2 per cent. The quarter on quarter figures (seasonally adjusted) showed a stagnant single currency area, and a barely growing EU, which saw growth of [...]
As the ECB unveils rate cuts and asset purchase plans, can it save the Eurozone from disaster? September 4, 2014 Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, says Yes. Yesterday’s announcement by the European Central Bank (ECB) – that it’s cutting rates and will buy asset-backed securities and euro-denominated covered bonds from October – will help avoid disaster, but huge risks remain. The rate cuts will only have a marginal impact, and little is known about [...]
Eurozone service sector’s slowdown puts pressure on ECB to undertake quantitative easing September 3, 2014 The Eurozone’s services firms flagged a further slowdown in the troubled currency bloc’s growth yesterday, with surveys indicating that the region is growing at the slowest pace this year so far, putting pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB). The Eurozone’s composite purchasing managers’ index, collated by Markit, dropped to just 52.5 – the lowest [...]
Dismal Eurozone data adds to reasons not to hike interest rates September 3, 2014 Our panel of experts voted to hold interest rates again this week, with dismal data from the Eurozone adding to weak UK wage inflation as the major reasons mentioned not to tighten policy. The clear slowdown in the currency union has had little effect on hard economic data in the UK so far, but several [...]
German bank boss’ support for central Eurozone bond sparks ire September 3, 2014 The chairman and chief executive of one of Germany’s largest banks was in hot water in his home country yesterday, after penning an article in support of centralised bond issuances for the Eurozone. Commerzbank boss Martin Blessing came under scrutiny after expressing the opinion in an article for German business newspaper Handelsblatt. Blessing said that the [...]
Eurozone PMI in graphs: Spain and Ireland report strong services growth, while France and Italy lag behind September 3, 2014 More economic problems for France and Italy. Both countries slipped in to contractionary territory in the Markit PMI stakes, recording composite (manufacturing and services) scores below the 50 point that indicates growth. The Eurozone overall posted at 52.5, revised down from 52.8. BNP Paribas has suggested that the downward revision points to mid-month events affecting [...]
Falling output in France and Italy dampens Eurozone growth September 3, 2014 Falling output in France and Italy has seen the Eurozone manufacturing and services recovery slow to the weakest level so far this year, figures out this morning show. Overall the index was 52.5 in the month, down from 53.8 in July – the weakest of the year so far, although any PMI score above [...]
The Eurozone has entered the red zone – CNBC Comment September 1, 2014 The Eurozone's August inflation figure was confirmed at 0.3 per cent last week, down from July’s surprisingly weak reading of 0.4 per cent. It was also, of course, way below the European Central Bank’s (ECB) inflation target of just under 2 per cent, and well within the ECB’s stated “danger zone” of under 1 per cent. [...]