Economic Data from Germany Tests EUR Support Ahead of Inflation Figures

It was a relatively busy morning on the economic calendar, with economic data from Germany and the Eurozone in focus.

Consumer Spending

After a string of positive stats from Germany and the Eurozone in recent days, retail sales disappointed this morning.

Month-on-month, retail sales fell by 4.5% in January, following an upwardly revised 9.1% slide in December. Economists had forecast a more modest 0.3% decline.

According to Destatis,

• Year-on-year, retail sales was down by 8.7% in January. In December, retail sales had risen by 2.8%.
• Compared with Feb-2020, the month prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, turnover was 5.8% lower.

Unemployment

Unemployment figures from Germany were mixed, following the disappointing retail sales figures.

In February, unemployment rose by 9k, partially reversing a 37k fall in January. In spite of the rise, the unemployment rate held steady at 6.0%.

Economists had forecast a 13k fall in unemployment and for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 6.0%.

Market Impact

In response to the retail sales figures, the EUR slipped from 1.20224 to a low $1.19990 before steadying.

German unemployment figures added further downside pressure, leading the EUR back down from a post-retail-sales high $1.20163 to a current day low $1.19919 upon release of the figures.

At the time of writing, the EUR was down by 0.41% to $1.19984. Earlier in the day, the EUR had struck a pre-stat current day high $1.20504 before hitting reverse.

In spite of the disappointing numbers, the European boerses recovered from early losses.

At the time of writing, the DAX30 was up by 0.20%, with the CAC40 and EuroStoxx600 up by 0.15% and by 0.14% respectively.

Next Up

Prelim February inflation figures for the Eurozone…