German Trade Surplus Declines, French Deficit Narrows

Arthi Gupta
08 Nov, 2012
New York City

Greek jobless rate increased to 25.4% in August. German trade surplus rose and French trade deficit narrowed but Hungarian surplus declined in September. Swiss unemployment increased to 3%.

[R]2:30 PM Frankfurt – Greek jobless rate increased to 25.4% in August. German trade surplus rose and French trade deficit narrowed but Hungarian surplus declined in September. Swiss unemployment increased to 3%.[/R]

German Surplus Climbs

Germany''s exports declined 2.5% in September from a month ago, reversing a 2.3% rise in August, Destatis said today. Imports dropped 1.6% in September from the 0.4% gain in August.

The trade surplus rose to €16.9 billion in September from €16.3 billion in August.

Separately German manufacturing fell by a seasonally and working day adjusted 3% in real terms in September following a revised 0.2% gain in August.

Annually, turnover fell by a working day adjusted 2.6% in September.

Sales to euro area countries were 7.4% below preceding month’s level and sales to other countries went down 1.5% in September.

Greek Jobless Rate Rises

Greece''s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 25.4% in August from 24.8% in July, data from the Hellenic Statistics Authority showed today. In August 2011, the unemployment rate was 18.4%.

The unemployment rate among youth, aged between 15 and 24 surged to 58% in August compared to 45% last year.

Unemployed increased by 351,666 persons or 38.4% compared with August 2011 and 23,442 persons or 1.9% compared with July.

Swiss Unemployment Rate Up

Switzerland''s unemployment rate increased to 3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in October from 2.9% in September, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said today.

At the end of October, the registered unemployed rose 4.3% to 125,536 from 120,347 in the prior month.

French Deficit Narrows

France''s trade deficit narrowed to €5.03 billion in September from the downwardly revised €5.26 billion deficit in August, data released by the Customs Office showed.

Exports declined to €37.59 billion in September from €38.18 billion in August. Imports decreased to €42.62 billion from €43.44 billion in August.

Hungary Surplus Drops

The Hungarian trade surplus declined to €739.1 million in September from €752.9 million in the year-ago period.

Exports fell 4.6% annually in September compared to a 4.8% drop in imports.

Swedish Home Prices Gain

Prices for single family and multi-family residences increased 2% on a quarterly basis in the third quarter, data released by Statistics Sweden showed.

The average real estate price for a residence in the third quarter was more than SEK 2 million.