French Industrial Output Eases; Dutch Trade Surplus Increases

Arthi Gupta
11 Apr, 2011
New York City

The OECD leading index rose in February. German corporate insolvencies dropped in January. French industrial output slackened in February and Dutch trade surplus rose in February. Romanian inflation accelerated to 8.01% in March.

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – The OECD leading index rose in February. German corporate insolvencies dropped in January. French industrial output slackened in February and Dutch trade surplus rose in February. Romanian inflation accelerated to 8.01% in March.[/R]

OECD Leading Index Up

The leading indicator for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development area rose slightly to 103.2 in February from 103 points in January. On a monthly basis, growth stagnated at 0.3% in February.

German Corporate Insolvencies Drop

German insolvency courts reported 12,800 insolvencies in January, which was 1.7% less than in January last year, the Federal Statistics Office said.

The total number of corporate insolvencies fell 9.5% annually to 2,304, while insolvencies of consumers rose 2.3%.

French Industrial Output Slackens

French industrial production increased 0.4% on a monthly basis in February, following a revised 0.7% gain in January, data from statistics office INSEE showed. The January figure was downwardly revised from the initial estimate of 1%.

Manufacturing output expanded 0.7% in February, slower than the downwardly revised 1.5% increase in January.

Annually, industrial production grew 5.6% in February after a 5.4% increase in January. Manufacturing recorded a 7.2% annual growth in February, faster than 6.8% in January.

Italian Industrial Output Improves

Italian industrial production, excluding construction, increased a seasonally adjusted 1.4% on a monthly basis in February after a revised 1.7% decline in January, data from the statistics office Istat showed today. The earlier estimate showed a 1.5% fall in production in January.

Dutch Trade Surplus Increases

The Dutch trade balance showed a surplus of €3.9 billion in February compared to a surplus of €2.8 billion in January, data from Statistics Netherlands showed today.

Exports of goods grew 19% annually to €32.9 billion and imports advanced 22% to €29 billion.

Czech Annual Inflation Eases

Czech consumer price annual inflation slowed to 1.7% in March from 1.8% in February, the Central Statistics Office reported.

March consumer prices edged up 0.1% on a monthly basis.

Danish Inflation Stabilizes

Inflation in Denmark was 2.7% in March, unchanged from February, data from Statistics Denmark said on Monday.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.6% in March. Annually, prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 2.8%, while there was a 5% surge in prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco.

Romanian Inflation Rises

Romania''s consumer price index increased 8.01% annually in March, faster than February''s 7.60% rise, led by higher food prices, data from the National Institute of Statistics showed.

Food prices increased 9.92% annually in March, faster than the 8.83% rise in February.

On a monthly basis, prices increased 0.60% in March slower than the 0.77% gain recorded in February.

Norwegian Annual Inflation Slows

Norwegian consumer prices rose 1% annually in March as against the 1.2% increase in February, Statistics Norway said on Monday. The main cause for the slowdown was the decline in electricity prices.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices climbed 0.3% in March versus a 0.4% in February mainly due to higher prices of clothing and footwear.