Bundesbank Feeling Optimistic About German Economy, Somehow
The economy of the Eurozone has been losing pace and certain sectors have been contracting for many months, as we all know by now. The European Central Bank has turned dovish, cutting interest rates in September and reintroducing the QE programme in November, while begging European governments to increase fiscal spending and introduce programmes, mainly aimed at Germany.
But, Germans are forever hesitant on throwing more money at markets and Bundesbank now sees things leaning more on the positive side. They made some comments on their monthly statement as below:
- There’s still no sign of an end to the construction boom
- There are indications that manufacturing could stabilize at the start of this year
- Sees German GDP growth at 0.6% last year, the slowest growth pace since 2013
- Industrial orders haven’t further deteriorated for the past few months
- Exports have expanded markedly
- Business confidence has improved, short-term export expectations have recovered
They see a boom in construction and a stabilizing manufacturing sector. Industrial orders haven’t deteriorated further they say, while business confidence has improved and exports have expanded. Imports have been dragging manufacturing and industrial production down, but they are feeling confident on it, but let’s see if we will see some positive numbers from these sectors in the coming months. These comments should be positive for the Euro, but EUR/USD continues to slide lower.