German Sentiment Improves; Hungarian Retail Sales Drop 1.3%

Arthi Gupta
24 Jun, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone leading index fell in May. German business sentiment improved and French consumer confidence remained flat in June. Hungarian retail sales dropped in April. Spanish producer price inflation eased in May.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone leading index fell in May. German business sentiment improved and French consumer confidence remained flat in June. Hungarian retail sales dropped in April. Spanish producer price inflation eased in May.[/R]

Euro-zone Leading Index Falls

The Conference Board leading economic index for the euro-zone decreased 0.2% to 108.8 in May, reversing the 0.2% increase recorded in April. The coincident index fell 0.1% in May, after rising 0.3% in April.

German Sentiment Improves

German business sentiment increased unexpectedly in June, according to a monthly survey from the Ifo institute on Friday.

The Ifo business climate index rose to 114.5 in June from 114.2 in May. The current conditions index unexpectedly rose to 123.3 in June from 121.4 in May. However, the expectations index fell to 106.3 in June from 107.4 in May.

French Consumer Confidence Remains Flat

French consumer confidence remained unchanged in June, a monthly survey by the statistics office Insee showed today.

The headline measure of consumer confidence was at 83 in June. The May reading was revised down to 83 from 84 reported initially.

Dutch Consumer Spending Climbs

Consumer spending in the Netherlands increased 0.5% annually in April, after remaining flat in March, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed.

Spending on services rose 0.9% annually in April, following the 1.1% growth in March.

Hungarian Retail Sales Drop

Hungary's retail sales decreased a calendar-adjusted 1.3% annually in April, faster than the 0.9% decline in March, data released by the Hungarian Central Statistics Office showed on Friday.

Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco rose 0.4% and sales of non-food products fell 2.7% in April.

On a monthly basis, retail sales dipped 0.4% in April, after falling 0.5% in March.

Italy Retail Sales Up

Italy's retail sales increased 0.4% on a monthly basis in April, after dropping 0.2% in March, data released by statistics office Istat showed.

Retails sales of food products rose 0.8% in April, following the 0.3% decrease in March. Sales of non-food products advanced 0.2% in April, reversing the 0.1% fall in March.

Annually, retail sales rose 2.5% in April, reversing the 2.1% decline recorded in March.

Spanish PPI Eases

Producer price inflation in Spain increased 6.7% annually in May compared to a 7.3% rise in April, data from the statistics office INE showed.

The latest increase in producer costs was the weakest since December last year and largely due to slower price growth in energy and intermediate goods industries.

Producer costs in intermediate goods industry rose 6.5% in May compared to the 7.1% rise in April. Energy prices rose 15.3% in May, slower than the 17.1% increase in April.

On a monthly basis, total producer prices declined 0.3% in May, following a 0.6% increase in April.

Czech Economic Sentiment Stable

The composite economic confidence index for the Czech Republic remained unchanged at 5.5 in June, data from the statistics office showed. However, the consumer confidence index declined to minus 21.8 in June from minus 20.5 in May.