EU Private Sector Report Strongest Quarter in 3 Years

April 3, 2014 Share Print 0

The outlook for the euro zone’s private sector has been given another lift, as new data showed businesses in the region enjoyed the fastest rate of expansion in three years in the first quarter of 2014.

The upturn in the 18-member bloc’s fortune was led by Ireland, where manufacturing and services data pointed to the steepest increase in output and growth surged to a seven-year record in March.
Separate data released on Thursday also brought good news for the region. The volume of retail trade in the euro area in February rose by 0.4 percent from January, slightly below the 0.6 percent forecast by a poll of Reuters analysts. Year-on-year, retail sales are up 0.8 percent in the region according to the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.