Euro Area Current Account Surplus Rises, Swiss Watch Exports Surge 22%

Arthi Gupta
19 Jul, 2012
New York City

Euro area current account surplus climbed in May. Swiss trade surplus rose in the second quarter. Dutch consumer sentiment improved in July but jobless rate increased in June.

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro area current account surplus climbed in May. Swiss trade surplus rose in the second quarter. Dutch consumer sentiment improved in July but jobless rate increased in June.[/R]

Euro-zone Surplus Climbs

The euro-zone current account surplus climbed in May, a report from the European Central Bank showed today.

The seasonally adjusted current account surplus rose to €10.9 billion in May from €5.5 billion in April.

The goods trade surplus rose to €8.9 billion in May from €6.9 billion in April. The surplus in services rose to €6 billion in May from €5.9 billion in April.

Swiss Surplus, Watch Exports Rise

Swiss trade surplus improved in the second quarter, the latest data from the Federal Customs Administrations showed today.

The trade surplus rose to Sfr6.06 billion in the June quarter from Sfr5.57 billion in the March quarter.

Exports fell 1.5% from a year ago in real terms and imports rose 0.8% in the second quarter.

Separately, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH said that Swiss watch exports rose 21.7% in June from a year ago to Sfr1.9 billion.

Hungarian Wage Growth Climbs

Average monthly gross earnings of Hungarian employees increased 6.4% on an annual basis in May following the 2.5% growth in April, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed.

Wages and salaries in the business sector increased 9.4% in May compared to 6.5% in April.

Dutch Sentiment Improves

Dutch consumer sentiment improved to -32 in July from -40 in June, Statistics Netherlands said today.

Consumers were less pessimistic about the economy for the next twelve months, and their assessment of the economic situation over the last twelve months improved.

Separately, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Netherlands increased to 6.3% in June from 5% a year earlier, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed. In May, the jobless rate was 6.2%.

The unemployment rate among youth increased to 12.2% in June from 9.3%t last year.

The number of jobless persons increased to about 495,000 in June from about 489,000 in May. In June last year, there were around 392,000 unemployed persons in the country, data showed.

Italian Industrial Orders Grow

Italy''s industrial orders grew by a seasonally adjusted 1.7% in May following a revised 1.8% drop in April, the statistics office Istat said.

On an annual basis, industrial new orders fell 9.4% in May and industrial turnover dropped 2.7%.