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Bloomberg
Euro-area exports fell for the first time in five years at the start of 2018, dragging on economic growth, which slowed sharply in the period.
Updated first-quarter GDP data showed that government spending stagnated in the three months through March, while exports fell 0.4 percent and net trade proved a drag. The economy expanded 0.4 percent, down from 0.7 percent at the end of 2017, in line with the initial reading from the Eurostat office.
As European Central Bank policy makers prepare for what could be a pivotal meeting next week where they’ll discuss the future of their bond-buying stimulus program, one key question is whether growth will stabilise at this new pace or continue to weaken. Factory data from Germany, the euro region’s biggest economy, provide a reason for concern, as they showed manufacturing orders fell for a fourth straight month.
Measures of confidence in the 19-nation bloc have also weakened, while IHS Markit’s gauge of private-sector activity declined in May to the lowest in 18 months. Despite all this — and potential risks related to global trade tensions and Italy’s new government, ECB Chief Economist Peter Praet has reaffirmed his confidence in the “underlying streng-th†of the region’s economy, and said that the Gov- erning Council will have to make an assessment of quantitative easing at its meeting next week.