020 7898 0500It was a busy day for Europe yesterday, with a raft of different economic data releases from Germany and the eurozone. The headline release was business confidence which fell by 0.09 points to 1.29 in July. It had been expected to dip, but only to 1.35 and it is the lowest reading since August 2017.
Economic sentiment dropped to 112.1 but this was better than the 112 expected, while industrial sentiment dropped to 5.8 against a forecast of 6.7. Services sentiment had been expected to drop to 14.2 from 14.4 the month before, but it actually climbed to 15.3. Overall, a bit of a mixed day for the eurozone, but it certainly could have been worse given the recent concerns over a potential trade war with the US. Now progress appears to have been made, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a recovery next month.
In Germany, inflation dipped to 2.0% in July from 2.1% the month before. Today we will see the unemployment rate from Germany and the eurozone, as well as the eurozone’s GDP growth rate for the second quarter of 2018.
