Weekly Eurozone Watch: The Devil Wears Prodi
Key Data Points
German 10-year Bund 1 bp lower;
France 1 bp tighter to the Bund;
Belgium 2 bps tighter;
Ireland 11 bps tighter;
Italy 10 bps tighter;
Spain 6 bps tighter;
Portugal 24 bp tighter;
Greece 13 bps wider;
Large Eurozone banks weekly change, -6.14. to 4.03 percent;
Euro$ down 0.43 percent.
Comments
- The German parliament has approved Cyprus’s bailout package, bringing the aid deal a step closer. 487 MPs voted in favour, with just 102 opposing the plan;
- Italian MPs failed to choose a new president. Two rounds of voting failed to produce a winner, meaning a third (and probably a fourth) ballot tomorrow;
- The jobless rate in the Netherlands rose to 8.1% in March, on a seasonally adjusted basis, from 7.7% in February. Twelve months ago it was 5.9%;
- Germany’s top central banker warned that the task of recovering from Europe’s debt crisis could take a decade. Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank, also suggested the ECB could cut interest rates to stimulate demand;
- European car sales fell by over 10% last month, as the financial crisis hit the auto industry. Germany, France and Spain all saw double-digit falls;
- MEPs were deeply critical of the handling of the Cyprus bailout. A session at the European Parliament saw a series of politicians blast the botched rescue package;
- An opinion poll showed that Germany’s new eurosceptic party has the support of around 3% of the country’s voters – not enough to win seats in the Bundestag;
- Germany’s ZEW economic sentiment index slipped to just 36.8, down from March’s 48.5 (and much worse than expectations) – a sign that optimism is faltering among the economists and analysts surveyed by ZEW.
Source: Graeme Wearden, The Guardian
Charts after the jump
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Prodi rejected as 4th attempt to elect new Italy president fails
