(RTTNews) - Friday, the day remained busy with several European nations reporting economic data as the month of August came to a close. Data released during the day revealed easing inflationary pressures in the Eurozone, though economic sentiment weakened. In the UK, consumer confidence remained near a record low.

Eurozone

Suggesting an easing in price pressures in the Eurozone, consumer price annual inflation slowed in August from a record high. At the same time, the economic sentiment deteriorated more than expected during the month. A flash estimate published by the Eurostat stated that the Eurozone annual inflation eased to 3.8% for August from 4% in July, while economists were expecting it to remain stable at 4%.

In a separate communiqu�, the Eurostat said that the jobless rate in the eurozone remained at 7.3% in July for the fourth straight month. The unemployment rate also matched economists’ expectations.

The monthly survey released by the European Commission showed that the Eurozone economic sentiment weakened more than expected in August. Declining for the third straight month, the economic sentiment stood at 88.8 in August, compared with 89.5 in July. Economists had expected the index to drop to just 89.3 in August. The overall deterioration was caused by lower confidence in industry and retail trade.

Consumer confidence improved for the first time in 2008. The consumer confidence index rose slightly to minus 19 from July’s minus 20 and services confidence climbed to 3 from 1. Economists had expected the consumer confidence to stay unchanged at minus 20 and services confidence at 1. On the other hand, industrial confidence weakened to minus 10 and the confidence in retail sector fell to minus 11.

Germany’s Federal Statistical Office announced that the country’s wholesale turnover increased a real 3.5% year-over-year in July, after rising 2.6% in June. On a monthly basis, the wholesale turnover rose 0.3% in real terms in July, recovering from a 1.5% decline logged in June.

A report by the Bank of Spain said the current account deficit widened to EUR8.5 billion in June from EUR7.3 billion in the previous year. This was mainly due to a worsening of the deficit in the income account, along with a fall in current transfers, partly offset by a rise in surplus in services account. In June, the trade deficit increased to EUR 7.9 billion from EUR 7.5 billion last year.

The National Institute of Statistics or INE announced that Spanish retail sales at constant prices fell 4.8% year-on-year in July, marking a significantly smaller pace than the revised 9.9% decline recorded in June. June’s retail sales decline was initially estimated at 9.8%. The decline in July was less than the 10.2% expected by the economists.

According to a preliminary report released by the Italian statistical office ISTAT, the consumer price index, or CPI including tobacco grew 4% year-on-year in August, at a slower pace than the 4.1% increase recorded in July. The CPI growth matched economists’ expectations. On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.1%, slower than the expected increase of 0.5%.

The Italian retail sales decreased more than expected in June as higher food and other commodity prices reduced purchasing power. The ISTAT, reported that retail sales decreased 3.4% year-on-year in June, reversing a 0.5% increase recorded in May. The decrease was more than the expected fall of 0.5%.

The Slovenian annual inflation stood at 6% in August, down from 6.9% in July, the latest report from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia showed. On a monthly basis, consumer prices declined 0.6% in August after remaining flat in July.

The Finnish industrial output decreased a working day adjusted 1.4% year-on-year in July, a smaller decline compared to June’s 3%, data from the Statistics Finland showed.

Rest of Europe

The UK consumer confidence improved unexpectedly in August, mostly led by factors having short-term influence such as cheaper fuel, and is unlikely to be a turnaround in core sentiment. A monthly survey from the research group, GfK NOP showed that the consumer confidence index rose three points to minus 36 in August. The improvement was at a time when the economists were expecting the indicator to fall to minus 40 from its record low reading of minus 39 registered in July. The survey is conducted by the GfK NOP on behalf of the European Commission. The research group interviewed around 2001 individuals between August 8 and 17.

A report released by the Land Registry showed that house prices in England and Wales recorded an annual fall of 2% in July. The average house price totaled GBP178,364, down 0.6% from the previous month. Meanwhile, London experienced annual house price growth of 1.7% to reach GBP348,366 in July.

Indicating weak economic growth in the coming months, the KOF Economic Barometer for Switzerland fell to its lowest level in 5 years. According to a report from the KOF Economic Institute, the Swiss KOF leading index stood at 0.68 in August, down from July’s revised reading of 0.85. Economists had expected a reading of 0.83. Earlier, the July reading was reported 0.9.

The Swedish current account surplus declined to SEK38.8 billion in the second quarter from SEK77.6 billion recorded in the first quarter, the latest report from the Statistics Sweden showed

Statistics Sweden also said the services producer price index rose 0.8% sequentially in the second quarter compared with a 0.9% increase in the first quarter. In a separate report, the statistical agency said the labor cost index rose 2.5% year-on-year for wage-earners and 3.7% for salaried employees in June.

The Hungarian statistical office announced that the country’s industrial producer prices increased 3.7% year-over-year in July, smaller than the 4.6% rise recorded in June. The statistical office also said in its preliminary report that the volume of investments declined at a smaller pace of 2.1% year-on-year in the second quarter compared to the first quarters’ 4.8% decline.

The Statistics Iceland announced that the country’s trade deficit stood at ISK41.86 billion in July based on fob value, smaller than ISK52.1 billion recorded in the same period of the previous year. The value of exports increased 13% at constant exchange rate to reach ISK27.8 billion for the first seven months of the year.

The Statistics Norway announced that the country’s retail sales volume decreased 0.6% month-on-month in July, faster than the 0.2% recorded in June. Economists were looking for an increase of 0.3%.

The Statistics Estonia said in its report that retail sales at constant prices decreased 3% year-on-year in July, smaller than the 7% decline recorded in June.

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