020 7898 0500The German trade surplus fell to €16.5 billion in July from €18.8 billion in the same month a year earlier. It is the smallest surplus since January 2017, with imports jumping by some 12% to reach an all-time high. Meanwhile, industrial productions figures for July showed they declined by 1.1% when a 0.2% increase had been expected.
The third estimate of the eurozone’s GDP growth rate for the second quarter of 2018 came in below expectations to post 2.1%. Economists had expected a dip to 2.2% from 2.4% in the previous period, but it declined by more than that. On a quarterly basis, growth hit 0.4% which was in line with expectations. The euro slid against sterling and the dollar, but it could have been worse in light of the disappointing figures. The markets are cautious at present, which might well have prevented the single currency falling further.
In sharp contrast to the UK, there are no releases from the eurozone today. However, we will see tomorrow the ZEW economic sentiment indices from Germany and the eurozone. On Wednesday, we will have the industrial production figures from the eurozone and the European Central Bank will announce it is keeping rates on hold on Thursday.
