Euro Climbs Against the US Dollar as China Worries Grow

The euro has continued its resurgence against the US dollar, amid concerns over the Chinese economy, as trading on the Chinese markets was suspended for the second time this week.

The demise of the Shanghai Composite will not harm foreign investment, as the stock market is comparatively indigenous.

However,  the eyes of the world are increasingly viewing events with the suspicion that all is not well with the Chinese economy. Even though today the index jumped up by 2% as trading ended.

As a result, selling pressure is likely to have increased on the euro, as the euro area’s export market to China is a significant one.

The decision by the Chinese government to devalue the Yuan to a five year low, does not help the position of the euro, as their spending power on European goods and services will be reduced.

This morning GMT, the euro is currently $1.087, slightly down from just under $1.095 yesterday evening, as concern increased over the events in the Far East.

Against the UK pound, the euro has followed a similar pattern, peaking yesterday evening at buying £0.748, and is now buying £0.744.

Euro Area Unemployment Rate at 10.5%

 

The euro area unemployment level has slightly decreased by 0.1% in November to 10.5%, in comparison to October last year.

Year on year the figures made better reading for the euro area, as unemployment has fallen by 1% from November last year.

There was a similar pattern for the European Union (EU) unemployment rate, as it also fell by a month on month 0.1%, down from 9.2% to 9.1% from October to November.

This was the lowest rate of unemployment that has been recorded in the EU since July 2009.

Germany Celebrates Lowest Unemployment Figures in the EU

The lowest unemployment figures across all of the EU member states was in Germany, where 4.5% of the labour force out of work.

They were followed by the Czech Republic with 4.6% unemployment, and then Malta who have 5.1% unemployed.

In comparison to a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in 25 member states.

Romania had stable rates of unemployment, and there was an increase in Austria, who have enjoyed favourable rates of unemployment recently, from 5.6% to 5.8%.

Finland also saw their unemployment level rise from 9% to 9.4%, reflecting the negative growth of 0.05% for the third quarter last year.

The largest decreases in unemployment were recorded in Spain, which was down from 23.7% to 21.4%, Bulgaria 10.6% to 8.8%, and Italy from 13.1% falling to 11.3%.

Retail Trade Down by 0.3%

Retail trade has fallen in the euro area by 0.3%, but increased in the EU by 0.2%, Eurostat figures for November last year, compared to October.

The decrease in the euro area of the volume of retail trade, is due to a 0.7% reduction in automotive fuel, a fall of 0.4% in non-food products, plus a slender 0.1% fall for food, drinks and tobacco.

In the EU28, the 0.2% increase in the volume of retail trade is due to a rise of 0.4% for non-food products, while food, drinks and tobacco, fell by 0.1% and automotive fuel by 0.3%.

In October, the euro area‘s retail trade slipped by 0.1%, while the sector remained stable in the EU.

For November last year, compared to November in 2014, the retail sales index rose by 1.4% in the euro area, and by 2..6% in the EU.