Sluggish Eurozone recovery hit by falling exports September 15, 2014 Worries about the Eurozone’s stuttering recovery worsened yesterday as new data showed weakening exports. A 0.2 per cent fall in goods export values and 0.9 per cent rise in import values from June to July narrowed the bloc’s trade surplus from €2.8bn (£2.2bn) to €1.7bn. Only economic powerhouse Germany showed signs of a widening trade [...]
OECD slashes its Eurozone growth forecast by a third September 15, 2014 The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has cut its 2014 GDP growth forecast for the Eurozone by a third, from 1.2 per cent to 0.8 per cent. It also reduced its 2015 outlook for the area, from 1.7 per cent in May to 1.1 per cent now. In its interim economic assessment, [...]
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 [...]