Euro (€) Currency Thread

inspector_monkfish

10:02 06Apr09 Euro zone Feb retail sales tumble, PPI falls

BRUSSELS, April 6 - Euro zone retail sales dropped much more than expected and producer prices fell in February, underlining the weakness of consumer demand and waning inflationary pressures in the contracting economy, data showed.

The European Union's statistics office said retail sales in the 16 countries using the euro fell 0.6 percent month-on-month in February for a year-on-year 4.0 percent decline.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.4 percent monthly fall and a 2.5 percent annual drop.

Eurostat said prices at factory gates in the euro zone fell 0.5 percent month-on-month in February, as expected by markets, for a year-on-year 1.8 percent fall against forecasts of a 1.6 percent decline.

The main driver behind the annual fall in producer prices was a 4.5 percent drop in energy costs, thanks to lower prices of oil and gas.

Intermediate goods prices were down 3.1 percent and price rises for durable consumer goods and capital goods slowed for the fourth month in a row.

Retail sales are an indication of household demand, which has been under pressure from the quickly rising unemployment as the euro zone economy sinks into its worst economic crisis since the Second World War.

Producer prices show inflationary pressures early in the pipeline as their rise or fall is usually later reflected in consumer prices, which the European Central Bank wants to keep below, but close to 2 percent.

Consumer price growth slowed to 0.6 percent year-on-year in March from a peak of 4.0 percent in July as a result of the economic crisis and the ECB has cut its main refinancing rates by a total of 300 basis points since October to 1.25 percent.
The bank has signalled it may cut borrowing costs again by a quarter point in May and also consider other ways of monetary policy easing to help boost demand in the economy as inflation is likely to turn negative in mid-year.

loveunit

@ inspector monkfish - morning, the £ seems to be on the same path as last week - steadily upwards.

do you know of any big news or events that might influence events in the coming days, or do you have any predictions - you were spot on about the £ last week after the ECB decisions.

inspector_monkfish

loveunit wrote: »

@ inspector monkfish - morning, the £ seems to be on the same path as last week - steadily upwards.

do you know of any big news or events that might influence events in the coming days, or do you have any predictions - you were spot on about the £ last week after the ECB decisions.

Mng,

There are a couple of interesting data announcements tomorrow that could swing things either way, depending on how they come out.

7Apr 09.30am UK Industrial & Manufacturing Output
7Apr 10.00am EuroZone revised Q4 GDP

The Pound is having a good day against the USD, trading at 1.4910, up from 1.48 on Friday. But is so far unchanged against the EUR since Friday.

Hopefully it can kick on later today.

inspector_monkfish

moving nicely upwards to currently trade at 1.1058

loveunit

yes.. a smooth climb, slow but steady..

I've only really been watching the markets for the last month, this almost consistent upwards does not seem right after the constant fluctuations, it almost makes me nervous.. I guess pretty soon something will happen to make it start going crazy again?

inspector_monkfish

trading around 1.1070

waynehayes

Over 1.11 now, a good day!

inspector_monkfish

waynehayes wrote: »

Over 1.11 now, a good day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8OfKdOFR_c

waynehayes

inspector_monkfish wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8OfKdOFR_c

Not quite perfect, but pretty good.

loveunit

are we still on the way up to 1.15? - made some great progress today...