Euro Area Inflation at 2.6%, German Retail Sales Rebound

Arthi Gupta
30 Apr, 2012
New York City

Euro-zone inflation eased to 2.6% in April. The euro area M3 growth jumped to 3.2% and German retail sales rebounded in March. The Spanish economy contracted in the second quarter and the Swiss central bank swung to loss in the first quarter.

[R]12:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone inflation eased to 2.6% in April. The euro area M3 growth jumped to 3.2% and German retail sales rebounded in March. The Spanish economy contracted in the second quarter and the Swiss central bank swung to loss in the first quarter.[/R]

Euro-zone Inflation Eases, M3 Growth Soars

Euro-zone annual inflation eased to 2.6% in April from 2.7% in March, flash estimate issued by Eurostat showed today.

The statistics office is slated to publish final data on May 16.

Separately, the euro-zone broad monetary aggregate M3 climbed 3.2% from a year ago in March compared to the 2.8% rise in February, the European Central Bank said today.

The three-month average of the annual growth rates of M3 during January to March rose to 2.8% from 2.3% in the December to February period.

Spanish Economy Contracts

The Spanish gross domestic product contracted 0.3% in the first quarter, following a 0.3% drop in the fourth quarter of 2011, the statistics office Ine said today. The latest slump in economic activity was led by a decline in domestic demand, according to the statistics office.

However, the latest result was better than the 0.4% decline estimated by the Bank of Spain last week.

Annually, the GDP fell 0.4% in the first quarter following a 0.3% expansion in the previous quarter.

German Retail Sales Rebound

Seasonally adjusted retail sales in Germany rose 0.8% from a month ago in real terms in March, following a 0.9% fall in February, the latest data from the Federal Statistics Office showed.

Annually, retail sales increased 2.3% in real terms in March following 2.1% rise in February.

Greek Retail Sales Drop

Greece''s retail sales turnover, excluding sales of automotive fuel, declined 10.9% on an annual basis in February compared to the 9.3% drop in January.

Retail sales of food products dropped 6% while there was a 16.6% annual fall in retail sales of non-food products in February.

SNB Swings to Loss

The Swiss National Bank registered a consolidated net loss of Sfr1.7 billion for the first quarter.

The report showed that losses on foreign currency positions totaled Sfr2.6 billion as the Swiss franc appreciated against major investment currencies.

Swedish Household Borrowing Rises

Sweden''s households'' borrowing from monetary financial institutions was SEK 2.67 trillion in March, an increase of SEK 127 billion compared to the corresponding month of last year, Statistics Sweden said.