020 7898 0500In Germany, the trade balance data showed that the country’s trade surplus increased in May despite ongoing fears about the possibility of a trade war. Exports rose by 1.8% while imports increased by 0.7%. The surplus came in at €20.3 billion in May from €19 billion the month before, which was better than the €20 billion analysts had predicted. The weakened euro will no doubt have helped matters and has offset the US tariffs on aluminium and steel, but a trade war would still significantly impact on Germany’s economy.
The ECB’s Mario Draghi delivered a speech in which he confirmed that the eurozone’s interest rates will be kept on hold until at least next year and its quantitative easing programme will be halved from September and end from December 2018. Draghi also said that trade disputes are the main risk to economic growth.
Today we will see the ZEW economic sentiment indices from Germany and the eurozone. Sentiment hasn’t been all that positive of late, so it will be interesting to see if optimism has grown or continues to be on the wane.
