In Europe

ECB night

ECB forgoes stabilising inflation before 2025 to avoid damaging economy

Minutes of the last monetary policy meeting. The ECB council considers that restoring price stability before that date would “depress economic activity to an unnecessary level”. Inflation has become a burden for the euro area and, in general, for all regions of the world. Central banks are fighting with all their might to try to regain the price stability dictated by their mandate, but some are already beginning to do…


German

German inflation eases one tenth of a percentage point in August to 6.1%, core unchanged at 5.5%

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Germany will stand at 6.1% in August at a year-on-year rate, which would imply an easing of one tenth of a percentage point compared to the 6.2% rise in prices in July and the smallest increase since last May, according to the preliminary estimate published by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis), information collected by Europa Press. The harmonised year-on-year inflation figure, used by Eurostat…


germany reinvented

Germany agrees corporate tax cut worth €6.5bn for companies and €2.4bn for households

Banca March: Germany has agreed to make a corporate tax cut totalling €6.5 billion. After Sunday’s tense negotiations between Lisa Paus, Minister for Family Affairs and member of the Green Party, and Christian Linder, Minister of Finance and member of the Social Democratic Party, the German government finally agreed on a total of €6.5 billion. In the end, €6.5 billion were earmarked for companies and €2.4 billion for households. The…


bayer1

Positive results from Bayer clinical trial to treat Parkinson’s disease

Bankinter | Positive results from a clinical trial to treat Parkinson’s disease. It is an initial trial, conducted with 12 patients whose Parkinson’s disease symptoms have improved. The treatment has been well tolerated by the participants, and there are no concerns about its safety profile. Bayer announced the findings of this trial at the International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders in Copenhagen and will publish the full results…


ECB night

Overall credit growth to the private sector slowed to 1.6% in July, weakest pace since June 2016

Link | According to the ECB yesterday, the M3 monetary aggregate in the eurozone increased by 0.4% year-on-year in July (+0.6% in June) to €15.6 trillion, thus exceeding the expectations of FactSet consensus analysts, who expected it to remain unchanged in the month (0.0%). The total amount of loans in the eurozone increased at a year-on-year rate in July by 1.30%, slightly below the 1.7% increase in June and the…


LNG regasification ship

Europe’s gas storage at 90%

Santander | Europe’s gas storage reached 90% of storage capacity on August 16, well ahead of the EU’s requirement to reach that level by November 1, which marks the start of the winter heating season. European Energy Commissioner, Kadri Simson, commented that this “underlines that the EU is well prepared for winter, which will help to further stabilise markets in the coming months. The EU energy market is in a…


eurozone banks

Goodbye to the “soft landing”? Eurozone’s PMI slump foreshadows recession

Ana Racionero (Intermoney )| In Europe, the PMIs showed the bill that is being paid for the ECB’s rate hikes. The downturn was of great magnitude and, what is worse, anticipates recession in the eurozone, specifically, a contraction of around -0.2%/-0.3% in the third quarter, after having grown by 0.3% in the previous quarter. Although France’s manufacturing rose in August from 45.1 in July to 46.4, when a decline to…


euros prestamos

Eurozone current account surplus reaches €6.8bn in June, largest since June 2021, up from deficit of €4.4bn a year ago

Link Securities | According to data from the European Central Bank (ECB), the eurozone recorded a current account surplus of €36.8 billion in June, compared with a deficit of €4.4 billion in the same month a year earlier. June’s surplus is the largest current account surplus achieved by the region since September 2021. This surplus was driven by the goods account, which went on to generate a surplus of €42.7…


Eurozona PMIs chunguis

Eurozone services sector worsens in August with similarly weak manufacturing performance: region could contract by 0.2% in Q3

CdM: The eurozone’s private sector activity has deteriorated significantly during the month of August, when in addition to the fall in activity in the manufacturing sector there has also been a worsening in services, according to advance data from the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) and reported by Europa Press, which suggest a contraction in the eurozone’s GDP of 0.2% in the third quarter of 2023. Specifically, the advance estimate of…


alemania reichstang

Germany proposes restrictions on Chinese direct investment in sectors like semiconductors, AI and quantum computing

Banca March| German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, Germany’s finance minister and a member of the Green party, is proposing restrictions on sectors where Chinese influence could pose a threat to Western economic security. These include semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. These measures are framed in a context of debate and criticism of China’s geopolitical situation; authoritarianism in the country, military threats against Taiwan and ties with Russia. On the…