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Euro zone GDP Q2 2024

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The lights of Frankfurt am Main’s banking skyline glow in the last light of day.

Boris Roessler | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

The euro zone’s economy grew by more than expected in the second quarter of 2024, flash figures from the European Union’s statistics office showed Tuesday.

The zone’s gross domestic product rose by 0.3% in the three months to the end of June compared to the previous quarter, the data showed. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.2% increase on a quarterly basis.

First-quarter GDP was confirmed at 0.3%, unchanged from the initial reading announced earlier this year.

The euro zone entered a technical recession in the second half of 2023, as GDP contracted in both the third and fourth quarter of the year, according to revised figures released earlier this year.

Bert Colijn, senior euro zone economist at ING, said in a note on Tuesday that the data indicated that the regiona’s economy is somewhat recovering.

“After stagnation for all of 2023, this is a relief and shows that the economy has started to cautiously recover,” he said, adding that the economy was now in a better situation than a year prior.

“The question remains where the economy will head from here and recent data do not provide much confidence that the eurozone economy is further accelerating,” Colijn said.

Covestro CEO: Doesn't expect a rebound in the economy for the remainder of the year

Data released earlier in the day showed that the euro zone’s largest economy Germany unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% in the second quarter — coming in below the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters, who had anticipated the country’s GDP to grow by 0.1%.

Germany was one of just four countries whose GDP fell in the three months to the end of June, according to the European Union’s statistics office. Latvia, Sweden and Hungary were the other three countries that posted contractions.

Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at ifo, said in a Wednesday note that the German economy was “stuck in crisis” and that it was also not expected to improve much in the third quarter.

Ireland meanwhile recorded the biggest growth at 1.2% in the second quarter, while the euro zone’s second-largest economy, France, logged GDP growth of 0.3% over the same period, its statistics office said Tuesday.

Inflation figures for the euro zone are set to be released on Wednesday. The fresh euro zone data out this week comes after the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged at its meeting earlier this month, saying that the option for a cut in September was “wide open.”

Economics

Why stricter voting laws no longer help Republicans

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“The Republicans should pray for rain”—the title of a paper published by a trio of political scientists in 2007—has been an axiom of American elections for years. The logic was straightforward: each inch of election-day showers, the study found, dampened turnout by 1%. Lower turnout gave Republicans an edge because the party’s affluent electorate had the resources to vote even when it was inconvenient. Their opponents, less so.

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Why the president must not be lexicographer-in-chief

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Who decides what legal terms mean? If it is Donald Trump, God help America

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Economics

Inflation rate slipped to 2.1% in April, lower than expected, Fed’s preferred gauge shows

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Inflation rate slipped to 2.1% in April, lower than expected, Fed’s preferred gauge shows

Inflation barely budged in April as tariffs President Donald Trump implemented in the early part of the month had yet to show up in consumer prices, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s key inflation measure, increased just 0.1% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.1%. The monthly reading was in line with the Dow Jones consensus forecast while the annual level was 0.1 percentage point lower.

Excluding food and energy, the core reading that tends to get even greater focus from Fed policymakers showed readings of 0.1% and 2.5%, against respective estimates of 0.1% and 2.6%.

Consumer spending, though, slowed sharply for the month, posting just a 0.2% increase, in line with the consensus but slower than the 0.7% rate in March. A more cautious consumer mood also was reflected in the personal savings rate, which jumped to 4.9%, up from 0.6 percentage point in March to the highest level in nearly a year.

Personal income surged 0.8%, a slight increase from the prior month but well ahead of the forecast for 0.3%.

Markets showed little reaction to the news, with stock futures continuing to point lower and Treasury yields mixed.

People shop at a grocery store in Brooklyn on May 13, 2025 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Trump has been pushing the Fed to lower its key interest rate as inflation has continued to gravitate back to the central bank’s 2% target. However, policymakers have been hesitant to move as they await the longer-term impacts of the president’s trade policy.

On Thursday, Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell held their first face-to-face meeting since the president started his second term. However, a Fed statement indicated the future path of monetary policy was not discussed and stressed that decisions would be made free of political considerations.

Trump slapped across-the-board 10% duties on all U.S. imports, part of an effort to even out a trading landscape in which the U.S. ran a record $140.5 billion deficit in March. In addition to the general tariffs, Trump launched selective reciprocal tariffs much higher than the 10% general charge.

Since then, though, Trump has backed off the more severe tariffs in favor of a 90-day negotiating period with the affected countries. Earlier this week, an international court struck down the tariffs, saying Trump exceeded his authority and didn’t prove that national security was threatened by the trade issues.

Then in the latest installment of the drama, an appeals court allowed a White House effort for a temporary stay of the order from the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Economists worry that tariffs could spark another round of inflation, though the historical record shows that their impact is often minimal.

At their policy meeting earlier this month, Fed officials also expressed worry about potential tariff inflation, particularly at a time when concerns are rising about the labor market. Higher prices and slower economic growth can yield stagflation, a phenomenon the U.S. hasn’t seen since the early 1980s.

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