French Leading Index Rises 0.6%, Swedish Jobless Rate at 7.4%

Arthi Gupta
18 Oct, 2012
New York City

French leading index climbed and Italian deficit narrowed in August. Swiss watch exports declined in September.

[R]2:15 PM Frankfurt – French leading index climbed and Italian deficit narrowed in August. Swiss watch exports declined in September.[/R]

French Leading Index Increases

The leading economic index for France rose 0.6% in August from the 0.3% gain in July, the Conference Board reported.

The economic coincident index, a measure of current economic activity remained unchanged after rising 0.1% in July.

Swiss Watch Exports Drop

Switzerland''s exports declined 8% in real terms on an annual basis to Sfr16.49 billion in September, data released by the Swiss Federal Customs Administration showed today. Imports dropped 6.4% from last year to Sfr14.48 billion.

The net trade for September resulted in a surplus of Sfr2.02 billion, the agency said.

Separately, Swiss watch exports decreased 2.7% from a year ago in September, according to a report from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

Swedish Jobless Rate Climbs

Sweden''s unemployment rate climbed to 7.4% in September from 6.8% in the same month last year, data released by Statistics Sweden showed. There were a total of around 376,000 jobless persons, up 10.2% compared to September 2011.

The unemployment rate among youth, aged between 15 and 24, rose to 22.2% in September from 21.2% last year.

Dutch Unemployment Rate Up

The jobless rate in the Netherlands climbed to 6.6% in September from 6.5% in August on an unadjusted basis, Statistics Netherlands said today. The number of unemployed was at 519,000 in September.

Separately, the Dutch consumer confidence worsened unexpectedly in October, data from Statistics Netherlands showed today.

The consumer sentiment index fell 3 points to -32 in October from -29 in September.

Dutch consumers'' willingness to spend deteriorated by four points to -24.

Italian Deficit Narrows

Italy’s current account deficit narrowed to €2.528 billion in August compared to a deficit of €5.08 billion recorded last year, data released by Bank of Italy showed today.

The deficit on goods account fell to €379 million in August from €2.4 billion a year earlier. The services account rose to a surplus of €84 million in August.

Portuguese Output Price Inflation Accelerates

Portugal''s producer price inflation increased 4.6% on an annual basis in September compared to the 4.2% rise in August, data released by Statistics Portugal showed.

Output prices in the manufacturing sector advanced 2.9% annually in September.

On a monthly basis, the producer price index eased to 0.6% in September from 1.2% in August.