European data

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It is a busy day for economic data in Europe today with many countries reporting their national PMI. Given how sensitive the European market is at the moment I thought I would post some of the data as it comes out.

Swiss trade data

Swiss exports fell in July as the strengthening franc curbed companies’ competitiveness.

Foreign sales, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, declined 3 percent from the previous month, when they gained a revised 3.8 percent, the Federal Customs Office in Bern said in an e-mailed statement today. Imports rose 0.1 percent after increasing a revised 1 percent in June, and the trade balance widened to 2.83 billion Swiss francs ($1.27 billion) from 1.77 billion francs.

Finnish unemployment

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Finland’s unemployment decreased from last year in July, data released by Statistics Finland showed Tuesday.

The jobless rate dropped to 6.9 percent in July from 7.5 percent last year. Economists had called for a rate of 7 percent. Unemployment among youth, aged between 15 and 24 years, rose by 1.1 percentage points to 13.7 percent. In June, the unemployment rate was 8.4 percent.

The number of unemployed persons declined to around 192,000 in July from 206,000 in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the employment rate rose 1.2 percent annually to 71.8 percent during the month. The number of employed moved up by 1.1 percent to 2.58 million. The number of active population edged up 0.5 percent year-on-year to 2.77 million during the month.

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French PMI

French PMI manufacturing for August comes in at 49.3 missing expectations of 49.7 and falling from 50.5 in July. A figure below 50 is a contraction.

The Services sector however grew to 56.1 from the previous 54.2 and the expected 53.5.

The Composite PMI was out at 53.6 higher than the previous 53.2

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German PMI

Manufacturing 52.0, same as last month but higher than the predicted 50.8

Services falls to 50.9 from 52.9, lower than the predicted 52.1

Eurozone PMI

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Services down to 51.5 in Aug from 51.6

Manufacturing 49.7 down from 50.4

Norwegian GDP

Norway’s economic growth accelerated more than expected in the second quarter, data from Statistics Norway showed Tuesday.

Mainland gross domestic product (GDP) grew a seasonally adjusted 1 percent quarter-on-quarter during the period, following a revised 0.5 percent rise in the previous three months.

Economists were looking for 0.9 percent growth following the originally reported 0.6 percent increase in the first three months of 2011.

Overall GDP grew 0.4 percent on a quarterly basis, recovering from a revised 0.6 percent fall in the first quarter. The first quarter figure was revised from 0.4 percent fall reported earlier. Economists had forecast 0.1 percent increase in the second quarter.

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GDP for mainland Norway was 2.4 percent higher in the first half of 2011 than in the corresponding period of 2010. Total GDP was 0.3 percent higher than in the first half of last year.

German ZEW survey

Germany released the ZEW survey for the current situation and the economic sentiment for August, where the current situation figure retreated to 53.5 from 90.6 and below the expected estimate of 85.0. While the economic sentiment dropped further to -37.6 from the previous -15.1 and below the expected of 26.0, reflecting the slowing performance of the German economy.

UK mortgage lending

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Gross mortgage lending remained at £7.6bn in July, equal to the previous month’s lending, according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA).

This followed an 11pc fall between May and June.

David Dooks, BBA statistics director, said: “Demand for borrowing from both households and companies continues to be weak, reflecting slow growth in the economy.”

Approvals for home loans were higher than in June – up 4pc at 74,950 – and slightly higher than in July 2010.

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The average value (£151,500) was 2pc higher than a year earlier, while the total value of approvals rose to £8.7bn from £8.3bn in June.