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Feb 13, 2019, 12:00 PM GMT
#Economy

Uncertainty Looms Over Europe

Today, the 13th of February, the European statistical office – Eurostat, released the December 2018 data of the seasonally adjusted industrial production for the member states in the Euro area (EU19), as well as the statistics for the entire bloc (EU28).

Estimates show that a drop of 0.9% was registered compared to November of 2018 for the Euro area and a 0.5% drop in the industrial production for the EU28. Paralleling the current data with the statistics for December 2017 shows that the bloc registered a total of 4.2% decrease in industrial production.

Even though European production output has been steadily rising since 2012, the most recent data has concerned investors because the trend seems to be running out of fumes, as can be seen from the chart below.

EU Industrial Production

Even though the yearly prospect for European industrial output looks progressively bleak, there are certain positives in the short-term. The highest increase in industrial production was registered in Denmark (+14.3%).

The small European state is the second biggest exporter of meat in the world, which means that the aforementioned increase in industrial output is going to reflect positively on Danish agriculture as well, resulting in an additional boost for European agricultural funds and futures.

The German economy managed to register a 0.2% increase in its industrial output, compared to the month of November, which has affirmed investor concerns over the GDP data, that is expected to be released tomorrow morning, which is going to be annually adjusted for the German economy, as well as the GDP for the entire Union.

Considering the mixed messages from today's data, investors would be eagerly anticipating to see whether the forecasted 1.2% of GDP growth for the EU would be realized, or a potential shock in the data would further send European stocks tumbling down.

Another pivotal data from tomorrow is going to be the yearly adjusted German GDP, and the forecast is for a 0.7% increase. Today the futures market remained optimistic about the biggest European economy, with the one month DAX registering 2.35% increase to an 11.142, and the EUR losing ground to the dollar only by a small margin, despite the strong support for the Greenback.