Eurozone Drops GDP Bombs
The eurozone unveiled some nasty economic news early this morning. For starters, Germany dropped its first-quarter 2009 GDP number... a 3.8% contraction, worse than anticipated, and the worst since ze Germans starting keeping track in 1970. On an annual basis, that's a whopping 6.7% contraction, another German record.
Over the last three quarters, the German economy has erased all GDP gains made since 2005.
Soon after, the EU statistics agency revealed a 2.5% quarterly GDP contraction. For the whole year, that's a 4.6% plunge... both numbers are EU records, too.
These ugly numbers are putting pressure on the euro today, and helping keep the dollar afloat. The euro fell over a cent on the news and now trades at $1.35. And since the euro is the most heavily weighted currency in the dollar index, the greenback measure is up a few tenths of a point, to 82.5
Ian Mathias
for The Daily Reckoning Australia
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About the Author
Ian Mathias is the managing editor of the 5 Min. Forecast and Agora Financial's public relations/media coordinator. In the short time Ian has been working for Agora Financial, his writings have been syndicated in several respected media outlets, including Forbes.com, the Associated Press, Yahoo! and MSN Money.