Euro-zone Construction Slows; German Sentiment Deteriorates

Arthi Gupta
19 Jul, 2011
New York City

Construction output in the euro are slowed in May. German economic sentiment fell more-than-anticipated in July. Greek jobless rate declined to 15.8% in April. Portuguese PPI eased in June.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – Construction output in the euro are slowed in May. German economic sentiment fell more-than-anticipated in July. Greek jobless rate declined to 15.8% in April. Portuguese PPI eased in June.[/R]

Euro-zone Construction Slows

Construction output in the euro-zone declined 1.9% from a year ago in May compared to the 1.3% drop in April, according to data released by Eurostat today.

Building construction decreased 3% from last year but civil engineering rose 1.6% in May.

Construction output on a monthly basis, decreased a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in May, reversing the 1.2% growth recorded in April.

German Sentiment Deteriorates

German economic sentiment fell more-than-expected in July, dropping for the fifth consecutive month, industry data showed on Tuesday.

The ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment fell to -15.1 in July from a reading of -9.0 in June.

The current economic situation index for Germany improved to 90.6 in July from 87.6 in June.

Greece Unemployment Drops

Greek jobless rate dropped to 15.8% in April from 16.2% in March, the Hellenic Statistics Authority said today, after rising steadily since last June and from a year ago rate of 11.9%.

The number of unemployed declined 3.1% or 24,881 persons to 786,459 in April but increased 35.9% from the same month last year.

Hungary Earnings Up

The average monthly gross wages of Hungarian employees rose 6.7% annually in May as against the 5.9% growth in April, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office today.

Portuguese PPI Eases

Portugal''s producer price inflation slowed to 5.8% in June from 6% in May, data released by Statistics Portugal showed on Tuesday. The latest growth was the smallest since January, when prices rose 5.8%.

Producer prices of consumer goods climbed 2.8% and intermediate goods prices rose 5.4% in June.

Producer prices on a monthly basis decreased 0.2% in June, following the 0.1% fall in May.