German Trade Surplus at

Arthi Gupta
08 Jul, 2011
New York City

German exports rebounded but manufacturing turnover fell in May. French May budget deficit widened and business sentiment fell in June and Swiss jobless rate remained flat in June. Hungary trade surplus surged in May.

[R]2:30 PM Frankfurt – German exports rebounded but manufacturing turnover fell in May. French May budget deficit widened and business sentiment fell in June and Swiss jobless rate remained flat in June. Hungary trade surplus surged in May.[/R]

German Exports Rebound, Manufacturing Turnover Drops

German exports advanced 4.3% on a monthly basis in May compared to the 5.6% drop in April, according to data released from the Federal Statistics Office today. Imports climbed 3.7% in May from a 2.5% fall in April.

The trade surplus increased to €14.8 billion in May from €10.8 billion in April.

Separately, the German manufacturing sector turnover fell 0.9% on a monthly basis in May after adjusting for seasonal and working-day variations following a revised 0.9% gain in April, the Federal Statistics Office said today.

Domestic turnover decreased 0.7% on a monthly basis in May and the business with foreign customers declined 1.3%.

French Sentiment Drops, Budget Deficit Widens

The confidence indicator for the French industry fell to 99 in June from 103 in May, according to latest survey results from the Bank of France released today.

The gross domestic product is expected to grow 0.2% in the second quarter of 2011, which is 0.2 percentage point below the previous estimate, according to the monthly index of business activity.

Separately, the French budget deficit widened to €68.37 billion at the end of May from €67.9 billion in the same period of last year, according to a report released by the Finance Ministry today.

Swiss Jobless Rate Flat

Switzerland''s seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained at 3% in June, unchanged from May, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showed on Friday.

The number of unemployed persons registered with the regional employment offices in the country declined to 110,378 at the end of June, from 114,684 at the end of May. Compared to last year, unemployment fell 23.6%.

Sweden Jobless Rate Rises

Sweden''s jobless rate rose to 4.1% in June from 3.8% in May, data from Public Employment Service showed. The number of registered unemployed totaled 201,000 at the end of June.

German Corporate Insolvencies Fall

German insolvency courts reported 12,866 insolvencies; 8,063 of them referred to consumers and 2,587 to enterprises in April, the Federal Statistics Office said. The total number of insolvencies decreased 7.8% compared with April 2010, insolvencies of consumers decreased 8.2% and enterprise insolvencies decreased 7.4%.

Austria Trade Deficit Widens

Austria''s trade deficit widened in €406.5 million during April from €264.6 million in the same month last year, preliminary data released by Statistics Austria showed today.

Total exports increased 10.9% percent from a year earlier to €9.8 billion and imports grew 12.2% from last year to €10.3 billion in April.

Hungary Surplus Increases

Hungary''s trade surplus increased to €719.8 million in May compared to the €402 million surplus in the same period of previous year, according to the first estimate released by the Central Statistics Office released today.

Exports rose 18.8% from a year ago to €6.78 billion and imports advanced 14.2% to €6.06 billion in May.

Dutch Factory Output Grows

Manufacturing production in the Netherlands rose 2.6% from a year ago in May versus the 1% growth recorded in April, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

Production in the transportation industry surged 28.4% and output of textiles, clothing and leather products grew 10% in May.

Sweden Industrial Output Improves

Sweden''s industrial production increased 13.4% on an annual comparison, faster than the 11.9% increase logged in April, data from Statistics Sweden showed.

On a monthly basis, industrial output rose 2.6% in May.

Italy''s Industrial Production Climbs

Italy''s calendar adjusted industrial production grew 1.8% annually in May, data from the statistics office Istat showed today.

Compared to May, production decreased a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in May.