New orders help buoy Eurozone manufacturing and services activity February 20, 2014 Despite a boost from new orders, figures for manufacturing and services activity in the Eurozone suggests recovery is still fragile, but remains on track. Markit’s so-called flash services purchasing managers’ index (PMI), for manufacturing activity in the Eurozone, was 53 in February – expectations were for that it'd stay at 54. The services activity index [...]
Central bank official: There’s no Eurozone threat from deflation February 19, 2014 A SENIOR European Central Bank (ECB) official yesterday brushed off suggestions that the Eurozone could suffer a period of deflation, going as far as to suggest that low inflation and a relatively strong euro could self-correct this year. Austrian central bank chief Ewald Nowotny also said it was not in the ECB’s remit to perform US-style [...]
Forecasters slash estimates for inflation levels in the Eurozone February 13, 2014 PRIVATE forecasters have slashed their estimates for inflation in the Eurozone this year and next, according to the European Central Bank (ECB). The central bank’s survey of outside projections has become significantly more conservative this quarter, with a 1.1 per cent increase in prices expected this year, and 1.4 per cent next year. At the end [...]
Globalisation lay behind the Eurozone crisis – but it has also rescued the euro February 10, 2014 THE ARCHITECTS of the European single currency apparently paid little heed to globalisation or the rise of China. The Delors Report in 1989, which set up economic and monetary union in Europe, didn’t mention either of them. Nor did the first official European proposal for monetary union, the Werner Plan in 1970. In retrospect this [...]
Deflation can be good or bad but the Eurozone isn’t facing the bad sort yet February 6, 2014 AT THE European Central Bank (ECB) press conference yesterday, Mario Draghi was asked whether the Eurozone is tipping into deflation and whether the ECB has the tools needed to respond if it does. “Deflation” has become a bogeyman, the thing economists normally agree to fear most. But is that right? That deflation might be a [...]
Eurozone on track for 2014 recovery despite retail hit February 5, 2014 THE EUROZONE’S economy has enjoyed a strong start to the year, business surveys revealed yesterday, despite separate figures pointing to a disastrous December period for the currency bloc’s retailers. Output in the euro area economy grew at its fastest rate since June 2011 last month, according to Markit’s widely-regarded purchasing managers’ index (PMI). However, Brussels [...]
Germany’s economy is only king in the blind valley of the Eurozone July 2, 2012 In the present debate on the euro crisis, Germany is frequently portrayed as a model of economic strength, a beacon of fiscal prudence and a proponent of structural reform. Her resources seem endless and her government debt an indisputable safe-haven. If only Germany shared her strength and resources more generously, the euro debt crisis could [...]