The European Union economy was expected to grow by about 0.4% in the 2nd quarter of this year, but researches have determined it missed the mark, coming up only at 0.3%.
This may not sound like a big miss, but that tenth of a percent is a lot of money (billions of Euros of unrealized growth) that has many investors worried. The main reason for the miss was a slowing in the 3 biggest economies: France, Germany, and Italy.
France in particular was estimated to grow by 0.2%, but actually just broke even; Germany expected 0.5% and came in only at 0.4%.
The union has been rocked by the Greek debt crisis; while Greece accounts for only a very small percentage of the entire Euro area’s economy, the gloomy news has been dominating the headlines and dragging down investor confidence. In fact, Greece has expanded more than analysts had hoped, but researches have yet to find a way to figure in the capital controls in July into their results, and the Greek stock crash is sure to weigh down results for the next quarter.
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Technical Analysis