The euro was boosted yesterday by optimism over an end in sight for the EU’s internal negotiations on an economic rescue package for countries hit hard by coronavirus. Building on Macron and Merkel’s €500 billion proposal, Ursula von der Leyen is set to propose a €750 billion borrowing programme to fund grants and loans to member states.
Perhaps less positively, but not entirely unexpected by the markets, Christine Lagarde has said that the ECB’s expectations of a 5-12% contraction in the Eurozone economy is already ‘outdated’ and that the reality is likely to look more towards the upper end of those figures, at 8-12%.
Spanish retail sales have come in this morning at -20%, just above market expectations of a drop to -22% in April. With Spain slowly reopening, these figures will be expected to rise in the coming months.
