German Consumer Sentiment Fails to Impress the EUR

It was a busier Eurozone economic calendar, with stats including German consumer confidence and second estimate GDP numbers for the first quarter.

German Consumer Sentiment Shows no Sign of Improvement

For June, the GfK Consumer Climate Index rose from -26.6 to -26.0.

According to the May report,

• Both the economic and the income expectations components improved modestly.
• The economic expectations indicator rose by 7.1 points to -9.3 points, with the income expectations indicator up 7.6 points to -23.7 points.
• The propensity to buy fell by 0.5 points to -11.1, leading to the GfK forecasting a 0.6 point rise in the Climate Index from May’s record low of -26.6.
• The war in Ukraine and inflation offset the effects of easing coronavirus-related restrictions.

German Q2 Economic Growth in Line with First Estimates

In the First quarter, the German economy expanded by 0.2% on the previous quarter.

According to Destatis,

• Quarter on quarter, household final consumption expenditure fell by 0.1%, while government final consumption expenditure rose by 0.1%.
• Positive contributions came from gross fixed capital formation in construction (+4.6%) and gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment (+2.5%).
• Total exports fell by 2.1% in the quarter due to lower exports of goods, while total imports rose by 0.9%.
• The number of persons in employment increased by 1.5% on a year earlier.

Market Impact

Ahead of today’s numbers, the EUR rose to a pre-stat and a current-day high of $1.07390.

In response to today’s stats, the EUR fell to a post-stat and a current-day low of $1.06816.

At the time of writing, the EUR was down by 0.40% to $1.06881.

Next Up

ECB President Christine Lagarde is due to speak ahead of the ECB’s Financial Stability Report. Later in the day, durable and cure durable goods orders from the US will also draw interest.