020 7898 0500It was a relatively quiet day for the eurozone yesterday, although we did see more evidence that the eurozone’s data releases of late aren’t all that inspiring. German business confidence appears to have waned of late, in part because of fears over Trump’s proposed tariffs, but there is a growing feeling that expectations have perhaps been a little too optimistic.
French industrial production came in at 1.2% for February when 1.4% had been forecast, and Italy’s monthly production actually fell by 0.5% when an increase of 0.8% had been expected. It all points to slightly concerning signs that the eurozone’s economic recovery – which was so overt throughout 2017 – might be slowing. There’s no real cause for alarm just yet, but with talk of a tightening of monetary policy increasingly prevalent, it does perhaps offer some food for thought.
Still, the euro climbed higher against the dollar yesterday and just about held its own against sterling. Today we will see the ECB’s non-monetary policy meeting and President Mario Draghi is set to give a speech.
