Euro News - France consumer spending falls in January. Business confidence steady.

February 22, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Consumer spending data released out of France today showed a drop for the month of January according to Insee national statistics. France's consumer spending on manufactured goods declined -1.2 percent in January after showing a 2.1 percent increase in December. January was the 6th straight month of declining spending. Automobile purchases were the hardest hit for the month showing that consumer spending on cars declined 8.7 percent for January after a 6.7 percent increase in December. Consumer spending on manufactured goods year-on-year pace registered a 2.2 percent increase. The consumer spending data came in below market expectations which had forecasted a 0.5 percent decline for the month of January and a 3.1 percent increase for the year-on-year pace.

A business confidence survey out of France released by Insee showed that the confidence level showed a slight decline in February verses January. A survey of business leaders on the industrial economic situation declined to 107 in February from 108 in January and marked the fourth straight month of a one point decline in the survey. General outlook on production registered the most striking drop in the survey as it registered -14 in February after posting -5 in January and a score of 4 in December. February's confidence level, despite the decline, is still above the survey's long term average of 100 which spans the period from 1976 to present.

The EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.4835 before the open of the U.S. trading session. The EUR/USD broke through the 1.4800 level yesterday after U.S. manufacturing data from the Philadelphia Fed registered a 6 year low at -24.0. There are no major economic news releases scheduled to come out of the U.S. today.

Tags: france consumer spending, france business confidence, insee, eur/usd, euro news, industrial economic situation

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