News released out of the European Union today showed that the German international trade balance registered a trade surplus of 6.9 billion euros in December following a revised 9.9 billion euros in November. According to data released from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, Germany’s annual trade surplus also fell below the level of December 2007 which produced a surplus of 10.5 billion euros. Market forecasts had expected a surplus of 8.2 billion euros for the European Union’s largest economy in December. Total year-over-year surplus data showed that Germany’s trade surplus was 178.2 billion euros in 2008 following a total surplus of 195.3 billion euros in 2007, a decline of 8.7 percent.
Exports fell for the third straight month in December with a decline of 3.7 percent to 67.4 billion euros while imports decreased by 4.1 percent to 60.4 billion euros. Compared to December 2007, exports have fallen by 7.7 percent while imports have decreased by 3.3 percent. Despite the recent exports decreases, Germany was the world’s top exporter for the sixth straight year in 2008 according to a story by Reuters citing information by the WTO, just narrowly beating out China for the top honor.
Germany’s current account increased to a 12.3 billion euro surplus in December following a 8.7 billion euro surplus in November. The total current account surplus for Germany in 2008 was 162.5 billion euros compared to a surplus of 180.8 billion euros in 2007.
Euro mixed in Forex Trading.
The Euro has been mixed in forex trading today versus the other major currencies. The euro has gained versus the US dollar as the EUR/USD opened trading today at approximately 1.2953 dollars per euro and has advanced to trading at 1.3020 in the afternoon of the U.S. trading session at 2:58pm EST.
The euro has been falling versus the British pound today as the EUR/GBP has declined to 0.8731 from 0.8773. The euro has gained ground versus the Japanese yen as the EUR/JPY has advanced to 119.12 after opening the day at 118.51. Elsewhere today, the euro has declined versus the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar while gaining against the Swiss franc and Canadian dollar.
EUR/GBP Chart – The Euro falling against the British Pound today in Forex Trading. The Euro has been in a downtrend versus the Pound since establishing a new alltime high currency exchange rate in January.
