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Spain's borrowing costs fall on short-term bonds

Agence France-PresseMay 14, 2013 08:16

Borrowing costs for Spain eased as it raised 4.047 billion euros in short-term debt on Tuesday, a sign of further-strengthening market confidence in the crisis-hit country. The sale offered further encouragement for the eurozone's fourth-biggest economy, which last year resisted speculation that it would need a sovereign bailout to rescue its public finances. Overall demand for the 12- and six-month Spanish treasury bills was 10.9 billion euros, more than double the government's upper target of four billion euros ($5.2 billion), the central bank said in a statement.

Slovak official inflation down to 28-month low in April

Agence France-PresseMay 14, 2013 08:15

Inflation in eurozone member Slovakia edged down to a 28-month low point of 1.7 percent in April from 1.9 percent the previous month, official data showed on Tuesday. Consumer prices stagnated meanwhile on a monthly comparison after an uptick of 0.1 percent in March, the Slovak Statistics Office said. Annualised price growth was fuelled by higher education, food and beverage costs. Slovak inflation averaged 3.6 percent last year, an increase from the 3.9-percent rate recorded in 2011.

Surprisingly big rise in industrial output in eurozone raises hopes recession may have ended

The Canadian PressMay 14, 2013 06:45

BRUSSELS - A larger-than-expected increase in industrial production across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro during March has raised hopes that the recession in the eurozone has eased or even ended. Official figures from Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, show eurozone industrial output rose a monthly 1 per cent in March, double the rate expected in the markets and the biggest gain since July 2011.

Support for EU on the slide: Pew survey

Agence France-PresseMay 14, 2013 05:00

Popular support for the European Union and greater economic integration to combat the debt crisis has fallen sharply, especially in key member France, a Pew Research survey shows. Under the headline 'The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union,' the survey shows favourable opinion of the EU slumping from 60 percent in 2012 to just 45 percent now. In France, the reading tumbled from 60 percent to 41 percent. "The effort over the past half century to create a more united Europe is now the principal casualty of the euro crisis," it said in a report late Monday.

Estonian economy shrinks 1.0% in Q1: official data

Agence France-PresseMay 13, 2013 16:12

The economy of eurozone country Estonia shrank by 1.0 percent in the first quarter of 2013 on a quarterly comparison and on an adjusted basis, official data showed on Monday. On a 12-month basis, the economy grew by 1.0 percent after posting overall 3.2-percent growth in the whole of 2012. This figure was down sharply from record 8.3-percent growth in 2011. The slowdown was mostly due to drag from the eurozone debt crisis on the Baltic state with a population of 1.3 million

US retail sales rise in April on purchases of autos, clothing; lower gas prices a factor

The Canadian PressMay 13, 2013 14:00

WASHINGTON - Lower-priced gas allowed Americans to step up their spending at retailers in April, from cars and clothes to electronics and appliances. The rebound from a weak March suggests consumers remain resilient in the face of higher taxes and could continue to drive economic growth this spring. Retail sales edged up 0.1 per cent in April from March, the Commerce Department said Monday. That's an improvement from a 0.5 per cent decline in March, which was the largest drop in nine months.

European stocks fall as eurozone ministers meet

Agence France-PresseMay 13, 2013 13:45

European stock markets rose slightly on Monday as eurozone finance ministers met to discuss ways to clamp down on tax fraud, while the euro and dollar hit fresh multi-year highs versus the yen. At the close, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares gained 0.10 percent to 6,631.76 points. Frankfurt's DAX 30 closed virtually unchanged from its record high on Friday at 8,279.29 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 was 0.22 percent higher at 3,945.20 points. Madrid slumped 1.01 percent, dragged lower by banking shares, and Milan lost 0.65 percent.

CORRECTED: European stocks rise as eurozone ministers meet

Agence France-PresseMay 13, 2013 12:45

EU finance ministers seek rules to shift burden for bank failures from taxpayers to creditors

The Canadian PressMay 13, 2013 09:16

BRUSSELS - European Union governments want to shift the cost of rescuing troubled banks from taxpayers to the banks' creditors, including the holders of large deposits as a last resort. The finance ministers from the 27-nation bloc met Tuesday in Brussels to hammer out the new rules on how to fund bank rescues as part of their wider project to set up a banking union. The union is key to their plans to strengthen the financial sector avoid a repeat of the crisis.

Italian rates fall in 8-bn euro bond sale

Agence France-PresseMay 13, 2013 07:46

Italy's borrowing costs fell in a bond auction on Monday that raised 8.0 billion euros ($10.4 billion), taking advantage of greater liquidity in the market due to central bank policy action. Italy raised 3.5 billion euros with bonds due in 2016 at 1.92 percent compared to 2.29 percent last month, 1.5 billion euros in bonds due in 2026 at 4.07 percent instead of 4.55 percent in February and 3.0 billion euros of a new bill due in 2018.