Eurozone growth levels under pressure as leading trade indicators start to weaken

Comment by Janet Mui

There are signs that eurozone growth - after an exceptionally strong 2017 - is losing momentum.

And it is likely that recent weak data is not just temporary, but reflects growing risks to both domestic and external demand. The key driver of the surprisingly strong growth last year was net trade, making a contribution of +0.6% to 2017 GDP growth. By contrast, the figure for 2016 was -0.5%. Such a robust pace of growth in trade is unsustainable, and the outlook for eurozone exports appears to be deteriorating. A range of current and leading trade indicators have weakened, notably new orders from the global Purchasing Managers' Indices and industrial orders in Germany. 'Dragh...