-Last week in the Eurozone
In the Eurozone last week, markets followed the European Central Bank's (ECB) policy meeting accounts, industrial production, the ZEW Investor Confidence Index and Germany's inflation data.
Minutes of the ECB's June 13-14 Governing Council meeting showed that while “trade tensions” between economies had “become more likely and recent data poorer than expected, the risks to the economic outlook were still seen as broadly unchanged.”
“While the incoming data had been somewhat weaker than previously expected, the fundamentals remained in place for the medium-term growth outlook to remain solid and broad-based,” the minutes said.
The minutes also signaled that interest rates would remain at their present levels through to the summer of 2019.
The Bank's Governing Council will meet in Frankfurt on July 26. Interest rate decisions will then be announced and ECB President Mario Draghi will brief about the decisions made.
In May, seasonally-adjusted industrial production month-on-month rose by 1.3 percent in the euro area and by 1.2 percent in the EU, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
On the other hand, economic confidence in the Eurozone continues to decline. According to the ZEW Economic Sentiment Index, the financial market experts’ sentiment concerning the economic development of the Eurozone experienced a significant drop, with the corresponding indicator currently standing at minus 18.7 points, 6.1 points below the reading from the previous month.
Meanwhile, the indicator for the current economic situation in the Eurozone has sunk by 3.7 points to a reading of 36.2 points. As a result, the economic outlook for the Eurozone over the coming six months has worsened considerably. In accordance with the weaker economic outlook for both Germany and the Eurozone, inflation expectations also saw a noticeable drop compared to the previous month.
Another focus of the markets was Germany's inflation rate. Consumer prices in Germany were 2.1 percent higher in June 2018 than in June 2017. The inflation rate – measured by the consumer price index – thus was higher than two percent for the second consecutive month (May 2018: +2.2 percent).
Previously, an inflation rate of 2.2 percent had been recorded in February 2017. Compared with May 2018, the consumer price index rose by 0.1 percent in June 2018.
-The week ahead
This week, in addition to the G20 meetings in Argentina, markets will follow the Euro area foreign trade data and inflation data.