German Sentiment Declines; Swiss Confidence Slumps

Arthi Gupta
25 Aug, 2011
New York City

German consumer sentiment forecasted to weaken in September. Spanish producer price inflation rose in July. Dutch producer sentiment decelerated, Swiss investor confidence slumped, and Iceland inflation remained flat in August. Swedish jobless rate and economic sentiment fell.

[R]3:00 PM Frankfurt – German consumer sentiment forecasted to weaken in September. Spanish producer price inflation rose in July. Dutch producer sentiment decelerated, Swiss investor confidence slumped, and Iceland inflation remained flat in August. Swedish jobless rate and economic sentiment fell.[/R]

German Consumer Sentiment Declines

German consumer sentiment is likely to weaken in September; survey results from the market research group GfK showed today.

The forward-looking consumer sentiment index for September fell to 5.2 from a revised reading of 5.3 in August, GfK said. The preliminary data showed a reading of 5.4 for August.

Spanish PPI Rises

Spain''s producer price index increased 7.4% from a year ago in July, after growing 6.7% in June, data released by statistics office INE showed on Thursday.

Prices of durable consumer goods rose 1.3% from a year ago and non-durable consumer goods prices edged higher 3.1% in July.

On a monthly basis, producer prices climbed 0.6% in July as against the 0.1% rise in June.

Swedish Sentiment, Jobless Rate Fall

Sweden''s economic sentiment index dropped to 100.2 in August from a revised 103.2 in July, survey results from the National Institute of Economic Research showed today. The index declined for the third straight month in August.

Sweden''s unemployment rate dropped by 1.1 percentage points from a year ago to 6.9% in July, data released by Statistics Sweden showed on Thursday. The total number of unemployed persons was 359,000 during the month.

Dutch Producer Sentiment Drops

Dutch producer confidence weakened in August, Statistics Netherlands said. The corresponding index was at -3.3 points in August, the lowest level since February 2010 compared to -2.2 points in July.

Swiss Investor Confidence Slumps

Swiss economic expectations deteriorated in August, latest survey results from the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) and Credit Suisse showed.

The CS-ZEW indicator dropped 12.5 points from the previous month to minus 71.4 in August. The indicator for the assessment of the current economic situation also declined 18.6 points to 34.3 in August.

Iceland Inflation Flat

Iceland''s inflation remained unchanged at 5% in August compared to the previous month, Statistics Iceland said.

However, on a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose 0.3% in August as against the 0.1% increase in July.