As the eurozone’s largest economy, Germany’s economic data is particularly noteworthy and is seen as a pretty good indicator for the eurozone’s performance as a whole. It will therefore be of some concern that the German construction sector contracted in October, with PMI falling to 49.8 last month from 50.2 the previous month. It is quite possible that the extremely disappointing release would have garnered more attention were it not for the US election result. Worrying times for Germany and the eurozone.
German industrial production figures were also released, but fared better than construction with September posting 0.2% from 0.1% the previous month and better than expectations. Retail sales in the eurozone were also released and on a monthly basis fell to 0% from 0.3% the previous month. On an annual basis, the figure was better than expectations at 0.8%, but still some way below the 2.2% posted the previous period.
Today kicks off with the German balance of trade figures for September. Last time around, the eurozone’s largest economy posted a surplus of €17.2 billion and some analysts are predicting that this will widen considerably. We will also see the European Central Bank’s latest economic bulletin.
