French Economic Growth Lowered to 0.1%, Spanish Retail Sales Fall

Nigel Thomas
28 Dec, 2012
New York City

UK store visits on Boxing Day barely increased 0.6%. French economic growth in the third quarter was lowered to 0.1%. Unemployed persons in France increased in November. Italy completed

[R]3:30 PM Frankfurt – UK store visits on Boxing Day barely increased 0.6%. French economic growth in the third quarter was lowered to 0.1% from the previous estimate of 0.2%. Unemployed persons in France increased in November. Italy completed €3 billion sale of bonds after placing more than €10 billion of bonds a day ago.[/R]

Fewer than expected shoppers visited UK stores for post-holiday bargains according to the latest research report released by Experian Footfall.

U.K. shops and malls visits increased based 0.6% on December 26, compared to a year ago day according to the report.

Shoppers took advantage of online discounts in a larger numbers limiting the growth in store visits.

French Economic Growth Lowered

French economic growth estimate was revised lower to 0.1% today from its previous estimate of an increase of 0.2%, according to the statistics agency Insee.

The latest revision in the economic growth was driven by weaker than expected investment from business and smaller increase in household consumption.

Business investments in the quarter declined 0.6% and international trade contributed 0.3% to the economic growth but household consumption growth slowed to 0.2%. International trade subtracted 0.4 percentage point in the previous quarter.

In a separate report, the number of people looking for work increased by 29,300 in November.

Spanish Retail Sales Fall

Spanish retail sales declined 7.8% in November from a year ago after declining 8.4% in October.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said at the last news conference of the year that he is prepared to seek help from European Union if conditions warrant it, reversing his earlier stance that he will avoid help at all costs.

Italy Completes Bond Offerings

The Treasury office in Rome sold €3 billion of 10-year bonds that yielded 4.48% up from 4.45% at the last auction on November 29.

In addition, the Treasury sold €2.9 billion bonds with maturity in 2017 yielding 3.26% compared to 3.23% in November 29 auction.

Bid to spread ratio for 10-year increased to 1.47 times from 1.18 at the previous auction last month and the ratio increased to 1.29 from 1.24 for 5-year bonds.

The 10-year Italian bonds traded 1 basis point declined to 4.5% and premium to German debt stabilized at 321.6 points.