Economy in Brief: April 2007

GDP growth ‘surprised’ on the slow side for 2007Q1 coming in at a pace of 1.3%. The Yr/yr pace slowed, too, to 2.1% a sharp slowdown from 3.1% Y/Y just last quarter. Despite the low growth print of the headline, GDP was anything but [...]

French industry perceives its business climate as the best in over six years, according to the monthly survey by the French government statistics office INSEE. The "business climate index" stands at 111 this month, that is, 11% above [...]

Germany has long been a bastion of inflation fighting. Ever since the post war hyperinflation raged, sapping German spending power, Germans have been alert and vigilant against the rise of inflation. The Bundesbank long was charged [...]

The tunnel chart on KC production says it all in a nutshell. The index has been weak. In July 2006 the production index sank below its 12-mont moving average and has more or less stayed there. It has been fluctuating sharply in early [...]

The tunnel chart on KC production says it all in a nutshell. The index has been weak. In July 2006 the production index sank below its 12-mont moving average and has more or less stayed there. It has been fluctuating sharply in early [...]

GDP expanded 0.7% in the UK in Q1 2007, the same as in Q4 and a bit better than forecasters' estimate of 0.6%. The year-on-year gain was 2.8%. At first glance, the most notable aspect of this Office for National Statistics [...]

Durable goods orders are up by 3.4% after a rise of 2.4% in February. In most cases this sort of back-to-back gain would set a strong chain of growth in place. Instead, orders are still in a hole following a plunge of 8.8% in January. [...]

Durable goods orders are up by 3.4% after a rise of 2.4% in February. In most cases this sort of back-to-back gain would set a strong chain of growth in place. Instead, orders are still in a hole following a plunge of 8.8% in January. [...]