020 7898 0500Talks between leaders from across the eurozone lasted well into the night last week, but by the end a migrant deal had been reached. The relief was palpable as the euro strengthened against sterling and the dollar, although specific details of the agreement are still a little thin on the ground.
Eurozone inflation crept up to 2% in June from 1.9% the month which was as expected. This helped the euro’s performance on Friday too, not least because it is felt that it will eventually force the European Central Bank into normalising monetary policy before long. President Mario Draghi is unlikely to be moved by the news in the short-term, but economic growth and an increase in prices will surely necessitate action in the longer-term.
Unemployment in Germany stayed near its record low, but retail sales for May were very disappointing. Month-on-month, they declined by some 2.1%, which was far worse than the 0.5% decline the markets had been expecting. Year-on-year, sales fell by 1.6% which was also unexpected.
As with the UK and US, we have manufacturing PMI for the eurozone today
