Euro Continues Slide Against US Dollar

The euro has continued its slide against the US dollar over the weekend, and is now currently buying $1.082, having fallen to $1.079 this morning.

After the comments made by the European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi, that more stimulus is a strong possibility in March when the Governing Council of the ECB will meet, the euro has weakened.

This is despite the weak inflation figures that were released by the United States’ Department of Labor, as prices slipped by 0.1% in December, having been stable in November.

Due to the release of this data, there is less pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue to increase interest rates from the 0.25% rate, which was announced last month.

Against the UK pound, the euro is currently buying £0.75, having fallen to £0.752 yesterday afternoon GMT. In a similar pattern to the euro’s relationship with the dollar, the euro has been reduced in value against sterling over the past week.

Government debt fell to 91.6% of GDP in Euro Area

Government debt to GDP ratio across the euro area has fallen to 91.6% in the third quarter of last year, in comparison with 92.3% in the second quarter of 2015, according to figures compiled by Eurostat.

Across the European Union (EU) , government debt also fell quarter on quarter, down to 86% of GDP, from 87.7%.

Greece recorded the highest amount of public debt to GDP in the EU, reaching 171%. They were followed by Italy, who have 134.6% debt, and Portugal coping with the third largest debt of 130.5%.

In contrast the lowest debt was found in Estonia, whose debt is currently 9.8%, Luxembourg also reported encouraging figures with debt of 21.3%, and Bulgaria also had low debt of 26.9%.

Compared with the second quarter of 2015, 21 Member States registered a decrease in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2015, and seven had an increase in their arrears.

Ireland had the highest decrease of 2.7%, with Italy having the second highest fall of 1.4%. The highest increases were found in Slovenia who reported a 3.3% , Greece 2.1% pp, and Portugal 1.9%.

Germany Reports Increase in New Construction Orders

Official figures have reported an surge in order in the construction industry of 15% for November last year, in comparison to October.

In enterprises who employ 20 or more workers in building construction and civil and underground engineering, a year on year rise in turnover of 3.4% was recorded.

     UK Retail Figures Positive

For the 32^nd consecutive month, the retail industry grew by 2.6% for December, compared to the same month in 2014.

For the whole of last year, the industry grew by 4.5% from 2014, and month on month retailers celebrated an increase in business of 1%.

The volume of online sales is also growing, as trade increased by 8.2% for December for last year, compared with the same month in 2014, but sales were reduced by 5.2% in contrast to November.