Euro-zone Sentiment Weakens; Spanish Retail Sales Decline

Arthi Gupta
27 May, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone economic sentiment deteriorates in May and M3 money supply growth slowed in April. Spain retail sales declined and Denmark jobless rate fell in April. Swedish GDP expanded slowly in the first quarter. Greek PPI eased in April.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone economic sentiment deteriorates in May and M3 money supply growth slowed in April. Spain retail sales declined and Denmark jobless rate fell in April. Swedish GDP expanded slowly in the first quarter. Greek PPI eased in April.[/R]

Euro-zone Economic Sentiment Weakens

Euro-zone economic sentiment deteriorated in May, a survey from the European Commission showed today.

The economic sentiment indicator fell to 105.5 in May from 106.1 in April. The overall decline in the euro area resulted from weakening confidence in all the business sectors, while sentiment improved among consumers.

Confidence among consumers increased to minus 9.8 in May from minus 11.6 in April. The industrial sentiment index fell more than expected to 3.9 in May from 5.6 in April.

In a separate report, the commission said the Business Climate Indicator for the euro area fell in May for the third month in a row. The index reading came in at 0.99, down from 1.28 points in April.

Portuguese Consumer Morale Dips

Portugal''s consumer confidence index dropped to minus 50.3 in May from minus 49.5 in April, data released by Statistics Portugal showed. The index has declined for the second consecutive month.

Consumers'' views of their own financial condition over the next 12 months deteriorated, with the corresponding indicator falling to minus 30.5 in May from minus 28.8 in April.

Euro-zone M3 Money Supply Growth Slows

Euro-zone M3 money supply grew at a slower pace of 2% annually in April, following a 2.3% rise in March, the European Central Bank said on Friday.

Data showed that the annual growth rate of loans to the private sector increased to 2.6% in April from 2.5% in March.

Spain Retail Sales Decline

Spanish retail sales declined for the tenth consecutive month in April, data released by the statistics office INE showed on Friday.

Retail sales fell by a calendar adjusted 2% annually in April compared to the 8.6% fall seen in March.

Denmark Jobless Rate Falls

Unemployment rate in Denmark slipped slightly to a seasonally adjusted 5.8% in April from 5.9% in March, Statistics Denmark said on Friday.

The number of unemployed declined to 157,500 during the month from 160,400 in March.

The male unemployment rate was 6.1% in April compared to 6.2% in March, while the jobless rate among women was 5.4% in April, below March''s 5.5%.

Swedish GDP Expands Slowly

Swedish economic expansion eased in the first quarter from the fourth quarter''s record growth, data from Statistics Sweden showed on Friday.

The working-day adjusted gross domestic product grew 6.4% annually in the first quarter. The GDP figure for the fourth quarter was revised up to 7.7% from 7.3% reported initially.

The latest expansion was the slowest since the second quarter of 2010, when the economy grew 4.5%.

Greek Producer Price Inflation Eases

The producer price index for Greece increased 8.2% on an annual basis in April, slower than the 8.7% growth seen in March, data released by the Hellenic Statistics Authority showed on Friday. The pace of growth had quickened in the previous two months.

Prices in the domestic market grew 7.9%, while prices in the non-domestic increased 9% annually during the month.

On a monthly basis, producer prices rose 1% in April, slower than March''s 1.6% increase.