Euro Area Swings to Trade Surplus, French Economic Activity Falls

Arthi Gupta
17 Dec, 2012
New York City

German manufacturing employment rose, French economic activity declined and Italian trade surplus rebounded in October. Euro zone swung to a trade surplus in October.

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – German manufacturing employment rose, French economic activity declined and Italian trade surplus rebounded in October. Euro zone swung to a trade surplus in October.[/R]

German Manufacturing Employment Climbs

Employment in German manufacturing units with 50 or more employees increased 1.7% or 90,000 persons on an annual basis to 5.3 million in October, data released by the Federal Statistics Office showed.

The number of hours worked in October increased 6.6% from a year earlier, reaching 706 million, considering that there were two working days more than in October 2011.

French Economic Activity Falls

French economic activity declined in October, the Conference Board said in a report published today.

The leading economic index fell 0.5% on a monthly basis in October to 114.4. The coincident index, that measures the current economic activity, decreased 0.1% to 103.9.

Euro Zone Swings to Surplus

Euro zone''s merchandise trade showed a surplus of €10.2 billion in October compared with a €0.7 billion deficit in October 2011, according to a report published by Eurostat today.

In October, seasonally adjusted exports on a monthly basis fell 1.4% while imports increased 0.6%.

The 27-member European Union trade balance resulted in a deficit of €9.4 billion in October compared with a deficit of €11.3 billion in October 2011.

On a monthly basis, seasonally adjusted exports decreased 1.7% while imports rose 0.3% in October in the EU27 region.

Separately, labor costs in the euro area increased a working-day adjusted 2% on an annual basis in the third quarter, following a 1.9% gain in the second quarter, data released by statistics office Eurostat showed.

In the EU27, labor costs increased 1.9% from a year ago in the third quarter, same as the preceding quarter, data showed.

Norwegian Surplus Declines

Norway''s trade surplus declined to NOK 31.9 billion in November, Statistics Norway said today. The trade surplus totaled NOK 36.95 billion a year ago.

Exports fell 6.7% annually to NOK 75.43 billion and imports dipped 0.8% to NOK 43.56 billion.

Italian Surplus Rebounds

Italy''s trade surplus rose to €2.45 billion in October from €409 million in September, according to data released by statistics office Istat. In October 2011, the balance was a deficit of €1.11 billion.

Exports remained unchanged from a month ago at €32.82 billion. Imports rose 0.8% sequentially to €31.5 billion in October.