Euro Zone 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
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