French Jobless Rate Rises; Spanish Economy Expands 0.2%

Arthi Gupta
26 Aug, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone money supply improved, French jobless rate rose, German import prices increased and Swedish surplus climbed in July. Swiss economic indicator fell in August. Spain

[R]3:00 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone money supply improved, French jobless rate rose, German import prices increased and Swedish surplus climbed in July. Swiss economic indicator fell in August. Spain’s GDP expanded 0.2% in the second quarter from the previous quarter.[/R]

Euro-zone Money Supply Growth, Leading Index Improve

Euro-zone money supply growth improved in July, the European Central Bank said today.

The broad monetary aggregate, M3, rose 2% in July after rising 1.9% in June. The annual growth in M1 eased to 0.9% in July from 1.2% in June.

The annual growth rate of credit extended to the private sector declined to 1.9% in July, from 2.2% June and the increase in loans to general government rose to 4.9% in July from 4.7% in June.

Separately, euro-zone''s leading economic index rose to 108.8 in July from 108.5 in June, data from a survey conducted by Conference Board showed on Friday.

The coincident economic index, which measures the current economic situation, edged modestly to 102.8 in July from 102.7 in June.

In another report, the Euro-coin indicator slumped to 0.22% in August from 0.45% in July, a monthly report from the Center for Economic Policy Research and the Bank of Italy showed.

French Unemployment Up

The jobless rate in France rose for the third straight month in July, according to data from the Labor Ministry released today.

The number of jobseekers registered at employment offices at the end of July was 2.76 million, the highest since February 2000.

The number of unemployed was 1.3% higher than in June and 2.8% higher than in July last year, the Ministry said.

Separately, French business managers expect investment in the manufacturing industry to increase this year, according to a survey released by the statistics office Insee today.

German Import Prices Increase

Import prices in Germany increased 0.8% on a monthly basis in July after falling 0.6% in June, on higher import costs of energy, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed.

Energy prices climbed 3.6% on a monthly basis, with import costs of crude oil increasing 3.9% compared to June.

Annual import price inflation quickened to 7.5% in July from 6.5% in June.

In another report, the number of German firms complaining of banks'' restrictive loan policies dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 21.4%, the Ifo research institute said.

Spain GDP Expands

The Spanish economy expanded 0.2% sequentially in the second quarter as initially estimated, final data from the statistics office INE showed.

On an annual comparison, the growth rate slowed to 0.7% in the second quarter from a revised 0.9% in the prior quarter.

Swedish Surplus Improves

Sweden''s trade surplus increased to SEK 12.2 billion in July from SEK 9.4 billion in the same period last year, according to data released by Statistics Sweden.

In June, the trade surplus was lowered to SEK 7.7 billion from SEK 8.2 billion in the previous estimate.

Swiss Economic Indicator Drops

Switzerland''s economic indicator fell by 0.37 points to 1.61 points in August, the KOF Swiss Economic Institute said.

The July reading was lowered to 1.98 from 2.04 points.