SubscribeAll Posts Tagged With: "eurozone"
Bad Luck Or Just Plain BAD? A Friday 13th Tale Of Eurozone Economic Despair
If you believe in that kind of stuff, Friday 13th turned out to be unlucky for the Eurozone economies.
In truth, the rot had set in long before today.
The region’s official economic reporting agency, Eurostat, said this morning that the 15 Eurozone nations (although it’s now 16 countries, with Slovakia officially joining on January 1 this year) combined to post a 1.5% fourth quarter decline – the worst performance since Eurozone GDP reporting began in 1995.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2007, the Eurozone GDP fell by 1.2% – the first contraction over a 12-month period in the region’s history.
I don’t…
16Feb2009 | Smart Profits Report | 0 comments | ContinuedEQUITIES AND DOLLAR DECLINE ALIKE THE CORRELATION MAY BE BREAKING
Dollar strength experienced a strong reversal in today’s trading session. The EurUsd rose 100pips to the low range of 1.36, while the UsdJpy dropped a bit over 100pips through 93 to high 92 price area. The GbpUsd surged 200pips pushing the pair back above 1.50 ahead of the BoE rate announcement scheduled for tomorrow. Equity markets deteriorated in the US and Europe, with all the major indexes closing on the negative side. Bond yields were active but have since moderated levels still well below historical averages. Commodities slid across the board with oil down 12% at $42bbl, and gold off…
7Jan2009 | Advanced Currency Markets | 0 comments | ContinuedRecord Rate Cuts and Economic Props Light up Europe
A spree of economic props dominoed across Europe today (Thursday) all sharing the same theme – stopping the global financial crisis from getting worse.
The European Central Bank took a drastic step to protect the Eurozone economy from shrinking further by lowering its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.5%.
As ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet announced the largest cut in the Eurozone’s 10-year history, he said that the region is bracing for negative growth next year.
"Global and euro-area demand are likely to be dampened for a protracted period of time," Trichet said at a press…
5Dec2008 | Money Morning | 0 comments | ContinuedEurozone Enters First Recession, U.S. to Follow
The Eurozone – the 15 countries that use the euro – has officially slipped into its first recession, as the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.2% in both the second and third quarters of 2008. Analysts anticipate the recession will carry into 2009 before easing and induce another round of rate cuts from the European Central Bank (ECB).
Germany, Italy and Ireland have already officially entered into recessions, posting back-to-back quarters of negative growth. France narrowly avoided a recession with third-quarter growth of 0.1%. The economy of 27-nation European Union (EU) also shrank by 0.2% in the three…
17Nov2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | ContinuedLikely EU Recession Paves the Way for Greater ECB Influence
The European Commission (EC) said yesterday (Monday) that the Eurozone economy has already slipped into a recession and strong and stable economic growth will not return until 2010. The European Central Bank (ECB), originally charged with the task of maintaining price stability, has now found itself with the added responsibility of encouraging growth and will likely cut interest rates later this week.
Gross domestic product (GDP) in the 15-nation Eurozone probably contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter after shrinking 0.2% in the second, the European Commission said. The executive branch of the European Union also lowered its 2008 forecast 1.2%…
4Nov2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | ContinuedWeak Exports and Domestic Spending Declines Push Eurozone to the Recessionary Brink
The Eurozone economy recorded its first decline in more than a decade as slowdowns in the European Union’s largest economies dragged on gross domestic product (GDP).
The Eurozone economy, which covers the 15 nations that share the euro currency, contracted 0.2% in the second quarter, as a 0.5% decline in Germany and a 0.3% decline in France offset gains in the smaller economies of Austria, Portugal and Spain, Eurostat, the European Union’s official statistics office, announced yesterday (Thursday).
The decline marks the Eurozone’s first contraction since 1996, when the euro was introduced and Eurostat began tracking the data.
While declining to speculate on…
15Aug2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | ContinuedECB Holds Rates Steady, but Growth Concerns are Beginning to Supplant Fears About Inflation
After boosting its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point on July 3, the European Central Bank (ECB) may be forced to reverse course and cut rates sooner than it planned, as slow growth is beginning to trump concerns about inflation.
The ECB left its key rate unchanged at 4.25% yesterday (Thursday). ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said that while growth will be “particularly weak” in the second and third quarters, inflation is also “likely to remain well above levels consistent with price stability for a protracted period of time.”
“Risks to price stability over the medium term remain on the upside,”…
8Aug2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | ContinuedProblems with the Euro
You’re on Eurown
In the last year, the euro has decisively outperformed the dollar and the pound. Some commentators have argued that this means that the euro is the currency of the future, and that the dollar has been relegated to second place. However, there are problems about this argument.
The United States is incomparably the stronger defence power; indeed the U.S. is now the only defence superpower in the world. As Britain found at the height of imperial power, it is not always easy to convert defence capacity into financial strength. Nevertheless, it was the sails of the British navy that…
25Jul2008 | Whiskey and Gunpowder | Comments Off | ContinuedEscalating Inflation at Home and Abroad Puts Pressure on Central Bankers
Inflation is spreading like wildfire around the globe, and while not every country is hurting as bad as Zimbabwe with its mind-boggling 2.2 million percent inflation, the United States and Europe are definitely still getting scorched by rising prices.
U.S. consumer prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), increased 1.1% in June, the Department of Labor reported yesterday (Wednesday). That brings the inflation rate for the past 12 months to 5%, well above the U.S. Federal Reserve’s preferred target of 2.0%.
The increase was higher than expected as a 6.6% jump in energy costs and a 0.8% rise in food…
17Jul2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | ContinuedWith a Rate Decision, GDP Report Due Today, the Fed Walks the High Wire Again
If U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers make the expected quarter-point rate cut at the end of their meeting today (Wednesday), the impact will be felt well beyond U.S. borders.
Indeed, the interest-rate reduction could set in motion a series of diverse global events that will impact such seemingly unrelated areas as European inflation, global food prices, the U.S. dollar, American exports, and the already chilly relationship between the European Central Bank (ECB) and the government of France.
For any of this to happen, however, the Fed first has to act. Most observers believe the U.S. central bank’s policymaking Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will…
30Apr2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | Continued
Loading ...
