020 7898 0500The German unemployment rate came in at its lowest mark since October 1980 yesterday, while the eurozone’s came in as expected at 8.7%. This is the lowest jobless rate since January 2009 and is yet more positive news for Europe’s economy.
However, it wasn’t all great news, as German retail sales fell by 1.9% month-on-month in December 2017 against an expectation of a 0.3% decline. This is the biggest drop in retail trade in May 2011 and year-on-year they also decreased by 1.9%. They had been expected to increase by 2.8% so this is significantly below what had been forecast.
The main release today is the eurozone’s manufacturing PMI for January. It is expected to fall from 60.6 to 59.6, but given that any figure over 50.0 shows growth it will still be impressive if it falls as expected.
