German Trade Data Fails to Move the EUR as the Markets Await the ECB

It’s a been a quit start to the day on the Eurozone economic calendar.

German trade data was in focus going into the European open.

Trade

In July, Germany’s trade surplus widened from €13.6bn to €17.9bn. Economists had forecast a narrowing to €13.0bn

According to Destatis,

• Exports were up 0.5% on the previous month and up by 12.4% on the same month a year earlier.
• Imports were down 3.8% on the previous month, while up 16.6% on the same month a year earlier.

Trade with EU Countries:

• Goods exports to EU member states rose by 17.7%, year-on-year, with imports up 18.7%.
• To euro area countries, exports rose by 17.4%, with imports from euro area countries up 22.4%.
• Exports to EU countries not belonging to the euro area increased by 18.4%, while imports were up by 11.0%.

Trade with non-EU Countries:

• Exports to third countries increased by 6.8%, with imports from third countries up 14.2%.

Trade with the UK:

• Compared with the same month last year, exports were up 7.2% to the UK. Imports from the UK increased by 15.6%.

Elsewhere:

• Exports to China fell by 4.3%, year-on-year, while exports to the U.S were up 15.7%,

Market Impact

Ahead of today’s figures, the EUR had fallen to a pre-stat and current day low $1.18114 before finding support.

In response to today’s stats, the EUR fell to post-stat low $1.18121 before rising to a post-stat and current day high $1.18360.

At the time of writing, the EUR was up by 0.14% to $1.18322.

Next Up

The ECB monetary policy decision and all-important Lagarde press conference. Will there be the talk of more than just tapering to spook the markets and drive the EUR northwards?

Initial jobless claim figures from the U.S are also due out but will likely play 2^nd fiddle to the ECB…