After economic sentiment in the European Monetary Union had slumped to its lowest since August 2012 last month, figures recovered into positive territory. This indicates that only seven weeks after the Brexit vote, the majority of investors are once again optimistic about the economic situation in the Euro-Zone.
The August figure for the ZEW Survey indicator for economic sentiment in the Euro-Zone came in at 4.6; showing the positive sentiment of investors and constituting a major improvement on July’s measure at minus 14.7, the lowest rating since August 2012. The figure also beat analysts’ estimates by 10.7.
ZEW Survey of economic sentiment in Germany also positive
Investor sentiment has also bettered in Germany, where the ZEW Survey of economic sentiment came in at 0.5 in August, 7.3 points higher than July figures. However, the measure missed estimates by 1.3 points.
The ZEW survey evaluation of the current economic situation in Germany reported a figure of 57.6, up 7.8 points from July and beating estimates by 7.6 points. This further indicates that a large share of investors are optimistic about the future of the German economy once again.
Eurostat published promising data on Euro-Zone June trade balance
At the same time as these positive results came in from the Centre of European Economic Research, Eurostat published its data on the Euro-Zone trade balance in June.
Non-seasonally-adjusted trade balance grew from €24.6 billion in May to €29.2 billion in June, beating estimates by €3.4 billion and adding to the cohort of positive EMU economic data.
UK Retail Price Index in July also promising
The release of positive economic data from the Euro-Zone followed shortly after the UK’s National Statistics published its’ July data on Producer – as well as Retail Price Index with equally promising figures.
The producer price index year on year jumped 0.5 percentage points, to 0.3% in July, beating estimated by 0.1%.
National Statistics reported the retail price index year on year figure at 1.9%. The figure grew 0.3% compared to June and beat analysts’ estimates by 0.2%.
Euro trades up against the US Dollar
The Euro has today risen gradually against the US Dollar with the EUR/USD gaining around 1.1% until 1.25pm. At 1.25pm the EUR/USD stood at 1.13008.
The EUR/GBP pair yo-yoed greatly in the first half of the day as economic data from both the Euro-Zone and the UK spelled good news for the two currencies. At 1.30pm the EUR/GBP stood at 1.13008.
Katharina Fleiner 16/08/2016
