Euro Area M3 Growth Eases; Spanish Jobless Rate at 23%

Arthi Gupta
27 Jan, 2012
New York City

Euro area money supply growth slowed, German import price inflation eased, and Swedish retail sales rose in December. Spanish jobless rate rose to 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Swiss leading index fell in January.

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro area money supply growth slowed, German import price inflation eased, and Swedish retail sales rose in December. Spanish jobless rate rose to 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Swiss leading index fell in January.[/R]

Euro-zone M3 Growth Eases

Euro-zone money supply growth eased in December, the European Central Bank said Friday. The broad monetary aggregate M3 growth decreased to 1.6% in December from 2% in November.

Separately, the Euro-coin index climbed to -0.14% from -0.20% in December, a monthly report from the Center for Economic Policy Research and the Bank of Italy showed.

Europe Commercial Vehicle Sales Rise 9.9%

European new commercial vehicle registrations increased 7.5% from a year ago in December, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers'' Association showed today.

Over the year 2011, a total of 1.93 million new vehicles were registered, 9.9% more than in 2010.

German Import Price Inflation Slows

Germany''s import price inflation eased to 3.9% in December from 6% in November, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed today.

On a monthly basis, the index rose 0.3% in December compared to the 0.4% increase in November.

The index of import prices rose 8% on an annual average in 2011 compared with 2010. This was the highest price increase since 2000, the statistics office said.

Spanish Retail Sales Drop, Jobless Rate Up

Retail sales in Spain declined 6.2% from a year ago at constant prices in December, following a 7.3% fall in November, data from the statistics office Ine showed.

Separately, Spain''s jobless rate rose to 22.85% in the fourth quarter from 21.52% in the third quarter, data from the statistics office INE showed today.

The number of unemployed increased 295,300 to 5.27 million in the fourth quarter. Spain has the highest jobless rate in the 17-nation currency bloc.

Swedish Retail Sales Improve

Swedish retail sales rose a working day adjusted 1.5% from a year ago in terms of volume in December compared to 0.6% growth in retail trade in November, data from Statistics Sweden showed.

On a monthly basis, sales grew 0.1% in December following a 0.7% gain in November.

Euro Area Leading Index Rises

Euro-zone''s leading economic index increased to 103 in December from 102.7 in November, data from a survey by the Conference Board showed today.

The coincident economic index, which measures the current situation, remained unchanged at 102.7 in December.

Swiss Leading Index Drops

A survey by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute showed that the leading index declined 0.18 points to -0.17 points in January, for the first time since 2009.

Greek Output Price Inflation Slackens

Greece''s output price inflation slowed to 5.7% in December from 7.4% in November, data released by the Hellenic Statistics Authority showed today. The latest data was the lowest since October 2010, when output prices rose 5%.