On the horrendous economic numbers coming out of Europe
The European Union released figures for Q4 2012 GDP today and they were awful. GDP fell by 0.6% in the euro zone and 0.5% in the entire EU, with only Estonia and Slovakia growing inside the euro zone in Q4. Stock markets are getting clobbered on the news and the euro is selling off. This is not unexpected for me as I have been writing a number of articles about different euro zone countries economies underperforming and their governments missing deficit targets. To wit, I am looking more to Europe sovereign bond markets to converge to the downbeat economic reality than to currency or stock markets. The markets to focus on here are Spain, Portugal and France because this is where I see problems for Europe.
Looking at the overall figures, the 0.6% contraction in the fourth quarter in the euro zone is the worst economic contraction in Europe since the beginning of 2009. And so it marks an acceleration of economic decline that should signal to European policymakers that their economic policies are not working. That said, I don’t anticipate this will be the message the data send European leaders.
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About Edward Harrison
Edward Harrison is the founder of Credit Writedowns and a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty years of business experience. He is also a regular economic and financial commentator on BBC World News, CNBC Television, Business News Network, CBC, Fox Television and RT Television. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College. Edward also writes a premium financial newsletter. Sign up here for a free trial.
