The data released in the first half of the day for various countries in the eurozone did not have a strong support for the European currency, as all attention was focused on the preliminary report on inflation in the eurozone for February this year.
So, according to the company GfK, consumer sentiment in Germany in March may worsen.
Despite the fact that the data are preliminary, the leading index of consumer confidence in Germany in March was 10.8 points against 11.0 points in February. Economists had expected that in March the figure would be 10.9 points.
As the experts note, the pressure on the index could be created by lengthy negotiations on the establishment of the ruling coalition.
A slight decrease in consumer sentiment was quickly offset by another portion of excellent data on the German labor market, as the number of unemployed fell more than expected and the unemployment rate continued to remain at a record low level.
According to the report, the number of unemployed in Germany in February 2018 compared to January fell by 22,000, while economists expected a fall of only 14,500. The unemployment rate in Germany in February remained at 5.4%, as in January.
A number of weak economic data for France also repelled any interest of traders to buy the European currency in the morning.
According to the report, consumer spending in France in January this year fell sharply by 1.9% in January compared with December. Economists forecast an increase of 0.1% compared to December.
However, if we analyze in more detail, the cost reduction is not related to the consumer sector, but to the energy sector, where the expenditure of French households on heating in January this year compared to December decreased by 7.6%.
Inflation in France in February also remained far from the goals of the European Central Bank and even slowed slightly. This happened against the backdrop of a decline in prices for services and food.
According to the statistics agency Insee, France's consumer price index fell by 0.1% compared to the previous month and grew by 1.2% compared to the same period last year. Economists predicted that the index will grow by 0.3% compared to the previous month and by 1.5% compared with the same period last year.
Core inflation, which does not take into account volatile categories, increased in February by 1.3% compared to the same period of the previous year, after rising by 1.5% in January.
Good news for traders was the revision of the Bureau of Statistics of France Insee its forecasts for economic growth for 2017. Thus, the assessment of economic growth was raised to 2% from 1.9%, and this was due to the good performance of some of the most important indicators. Data on GDP growth for the 4th quarter remained unchanged. GDP grew by 0.6%.
