Bert Colijn's Comment & Analysis
A complete archive of Bert Colijn's articles, including current analysis & comment.
Steady inflation confirms that the eurozone is in Lagarde’s “good place” at the moment. Expect inflation to remain around target for the months ahead
The European Central Bank should savour the...
The unemployment rate remained stable at 6.2% in May, with the number of unemployed people trending down by 62,000 people. Even though economic growth slowed again in the second quarter and...
The 0.1% growth compared to the first quarter shows resilience despite US trade volatility. While short-term risks to the outlook remain high, improvements in sentiment provide encouraging signs for...
The composite PMI increased from 50.6 to 51 in July. With uncertainty all around, an economy showing slight growth, increasing employment and weak inflation sounds surprisingly benign
It’s really...
Global uncertainty hasn't affected loan demand or credit standards too much in the second quarter, which means that the outlook for investment is not currently deteriorating. Then again, this still...
A significant increase in pharmaceutical production has caused another rebound in eurozone production. While production is volatile given US frontloading, second quarter GDP may turn out not quite as...
Eurozone data remains volatile amid trade war developments, but the underlying trend is still sluggish. Uncertainty is slowing domestic demand, which contributes to our expectation of a further rate...
The -0.7% month-on-month decline in retail sales coincided with a -0.3% decline in overall services activity in April. While surveys had previously indicated potential weakness in eurozone services...
The unemployment rate increased from 6.2% to 6.3% in May. This increase was mainly driven by a jump in unemployment in Italy, but overall, the labour market remains strong with significant shortages...
The inflation rate in the eurozone ticked up slightly to 2% on higher energy prices, but core inflation remained stable at 2.3%. Inflationary pressures have clearly weakened as wage growth is coming...