020 7898 0500Yesterday we learned that Markit’s manufacturing PMI for the eurozone slipped to 58.6 from 59.6, but the figure came in above expectations of 58.5. In Germany, the figure was 60.6 for February from 61.1 the month before, which was better than the 60.3 the markets forecast. Given that any figure over 50.0 shows growth, the figures are pretty impressive.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in the eurozone held steady at 8.6% to fall in line with market expectations. The euro strengthened against sterling and is up around 1.5 cents since 1 February 2018. However, since the turn of the year the move has actually been much more slight and has essentially traded sideways. The single currency had slid a little against the dollar, but after Jerome Powell gave his testimony to the Senate banking committee, the greenback actually ended up weakening a little. It just shows what a little bit of sentiment can do to currency movements.
Today we have retail sales from Germany which fell by 1.9% in January. They are expected to pick up in February to post a month-on-month reading of 0.9% and year-on-year reading of 3.5%.
