Eurozone GDP misses expectations
Eurozone gross domestic product undershot expectations in the first quarter, data released today has shown.
European statistics agency Eurostat said the single currency union's economy grew 0.5 per cent in the first three months of 2016, representing a downward revision from its initial estimate of 0.6 per cent.
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This meant the Eurozone economy grew 1.5 per cent year-on-year, rather than the 1.6 per cent previously thought.
"Having made amendments to interest rates and quantitative easing in recent months, markets will begin to wander how many tools the ECB has left to implement from a monetary policy standpoint," Alex Lydall, senior sales trader at Foenix Partners, said.
"The potential Brexit is still lingering over both the UK and Eurozone, with repercussions likely for both if the UK do vote to leave, and pressure is only building and growth data slowing."
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GDP expanded in all of the Eurozone countries which provided data except Greece and Latvia, which shrank by 0.4 and 0.1 per cent respectively.
Outside of the bloc, the economies of Hungary and Poland also contracted in the first three months of the year.