EUR

The euro area’s largest economy saw its trade surplus
decline from €18.3bn in December to €17.2bn in January, a three-month
low.  As imports rose 4.1% on the month while exports gained 2.2%. The
recent slowdown in growth in Asia, and in particular in China, the world’s
second largest economy, has been noticeable in Germany’s export figure.

EUR

The euro area’s largest economy saw its trade surplus
decline from €18.3bn in December to €17.2bn in January, a three-month
low.  As imports rose 4.1% on the month while exports gained 2.2%. The
recent slowdown in growth in Asia, and in particular in China, the world’s
second largest economy, has been noticeable in Germany’s export figure.

The Italian economy recovered moderately in the December
quarter, in line with the preliminary estimates, marking the first growth since
the second quarter of 2011. This is a positive sign for the struggling European
economy, although the economy still contracted 1.8% in 2013

GBP

In the February inflation report Bank of England Governor
Mark Carney signalled he was not concerned that Britain’s economy was close to
overheating, despite a strong recovery since last year. Carney said the amount
of spare capacity in the economy was probably slightly more than 1.5% of gross
domestic product, suggesting the BoE can hold off on raising interest rates for
longer. However he did also advise the treasury committee that it it’s ‘not
unreasonable’ to think that UK interest rates could hit 2.5% within three
years.

Also the National Institute of Economic and Social Research
has predicted that the UK economy picked up pace a little last month. NIESR
estimates that GDP grew by 0.8% in the three months to February, compared with
0.7% in the October-January quarter

Today

Another quiet day on the economic data front with Eurozone
industrial production set to come in higher at 1.9% for the month of January. Later
on in the trading day we have US Mortgage applications for the first week of
March set to be released.

Key Announcements:

10.00am – EUR – Industrial Production (Jan): Expected to
increase to 1.9%.

12.00pm – USD – MBA Mortgage Applications.