Euro Area runs regular trade surpluses primarily due to its high export of manufactured goods such as machinery and vehicles. Euro area is a net importer of energy and raw materials. Germany, Italy, France and Netherlands account for the largest share of total trade. Main trading partners are the Un...

In the Euro Area, the Markit Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index tracks business trends across both the manufacturing and service sectors, based on data collected from a representative panel of over 5,000 companies (60 percent from the manufacturing sector and 40 percent from the services sector). T...

The Euro Area is the second largest economy in the world. Of the 19 member states it includes, the biggest are: Germany (29 percent of total GDP), France (20 percent), Italy (15 percent) and Spain (10 percent). On the expenditure side, household consumption is the main component of GDP and accounts ...

Generally, Government debt as a percent of GDP is used by investors to measure a country ability to make future payments on its debt, thus affecting the country borrowing costs and government bond yields.

In the Euro Area, benchmark interest rate is set by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. The primary objective of the ECB’s monetary policy is to maintain price stability which is to keep inflation below, but close to 2 percent over the medium term. In times of prolonged low inflation...

In Euro Area, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force.