German Sentiment Deteriorates; Finland Jobless Rate Falls

Arthi Gupta
21 Jun, 2011
New York City

German economic sentiment deteriorated in June and leading index rose in April. Swiss economic growth forecasted to slow to 1.9% in 2012. The jobless rate in Finland declined in May.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – German economic sentiment deteriorated in June and leading index rose in April. Swiss economic growth forecasted to slow to 1.9% in 2012. The jobless rate in Finland declined in May.[/R]

German Sentiment Deteriorates, Leading Index Rises

The ZEW indicator of German economic sentiment dropped 12.1 points to -9.0 in June from 3.1 in May, the Mannheim-based Center for European Economic Research reported today.

The assessment of the current economic situation in Germany deteriorated 3.9 points in June to 87.6 points from an all-time high of 91.5 in May.

Germany''s leading index rose 0.8% on a monthly basis in April, following the 0.6% growth in March, the Conference Board said.

Swiss Growth Forecasted to Slow

Switzerland''s economic growth may weaken in 2012, mainly due to strong franc and weaker global economic trend, the KOF Institute said on Tuesday.

The institute said that the Swiss economy may grow 1.9% next year, slower than the 2.8% expansion in 2011.

Switzerland''s M3 money supply growth slowed in May, data published by the Swiss National Bank showed.

The broad money supply increased 5.6% annually in May, slower than the upwardly revised 7% increase in April.

The annual growth in the M2 indicator slowed to 5.8% in May from 7.5% in April. The narrow money or M1 grew 5.6% annually in May compared to the 8.2% increase in April.

Finland Jobless Rate Declines

Finland''s unemployment rate dropped to 9.8% in May from 10.5% in the same period last year, data released by Statistics Finland showed on Tuesday. Unemployment among youth, aged between 15 and 64, was 33.4% in May.

The number of jobless persons dropped 6.5% annually to 274,000 in May.