Manufacturer prices in European industry slightly fell in April on the previous month by 1.0% in the Eurozone (EZ16) and by 1.1% in the EU27. In March the changes on February had been -0.7 % and -0.5 % respectively. As compared to April 2008, prices fell by 4.6 % and 3.9 % respectively, according to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). more…

According to the IAB institute, the economic crisis would already have much more seriously affected the labour market without flexible work time and short-work. Thus, work overtime accounts have already been reduced by on average 6 hours in the wake of the crisis. Furthermore, the number of people working short has increased significantly in the first months of this year and amounted to 950,000 people on average per month in the first quarter. Working short people worked on average one third less than usually. Dividing this time among all employees in Germany, each employee worked 3.5 hours less in the first quarter. more…

There are more and more positive signs for the German economy: the influential Markit/BME purchase manager index (EMI, edition 6/2009) increased for the fourth time in a row in May from 35.4 to 39.6 points. This was the most significant increase since this index had been first calculated in the year 1996. However, the critical barrier of 50 points, which is considered to be the starting point for sound growth, was once more not reached this time. For the last time industry grew in July 2008 when the EMI reached 50.9. The bottom was reached in January 2009 when the index stood at 32.0. Since then the index has been moving upwards again. more…

The award ceremony for this year’s „World Entrepreneur of the Year“ took place in Monte Carlo last weekend. The international jury was made up of businessmen and academics and was led by the renowned Ernst & Young consulting firm. Nominated were businesses from 43 countries. This year’s winner and therefore “World Entrepreneur of the Year 2009″ became Cao Dewang, founder and CEO of Fuyao Glass Industry. Professor Götz W. Werner, founder of the dm-drugstore chain was admitted to the Hall of Fame of the world’s best entrepreneurs. He also represented Germany in this year´s competition. more…

German retail trade sales figures were down by 0.8% in April 2008 as compared to April last year. In nominal terms turnover was down by 0.9 %. However, these smaller sales volumes might partly be due to the fact that in April 2009 there were two working days less than in April last year. In comparison with March 2009 turnover increased by 0.9% (in nominal terms) and 0.5% in real terms after adjustments for season and calendar. more…

The rate of unemployment in the Eurozone (EZ16) amounted to 9.2% in April. In the EU27 unemployment was 8.6 % in April following 8.4 % in March and 6.8 % in April last year. Unemployment in the Eurozone in April was the highest since September 1999. more…

Even though the number of mobile phones sold this year is expected to reach just 26.3 million, which would be a drop by -5.2%, BITKOM expect a change in trend next year with 26.9 million units probably to be sold. This forecast by BITKOM is based on new data provided by the EITO market research institute. more…

This year’s small but prestigious “High End 2009” exhibition came to a successful end on May 24th in Munich. This fair is said to be the international reference exhibition for Hi-Fi technology. This year’s result: a record number of 248 exhibitors of high-quality consumer electronics, most of them small and medium-sized entities (SMEs), met with professional visitors, the number of whom had grown by 18% as compared to last year’s exhibition. more…

It is estimated that annual inflation in the Eurozone (EZ16) was 0.0% in May. This was reported by Eurostat, the European Statistical Office. This estimate is based upon the consumer price index for the Eurozone (VPI-EWU) as well as on price data provided by member states and early information on energy prices. In April 2009, annual inflation (as compared to April 2008) had amounted to 0.6 %.

German mechanical engineering is seriously affected by the economic crisis. In April 2009 the order intake was down by 58% (in real terms) as compared to the respective month in 2008. This fact was reported on Thursday by the Association of German mechanical and plant engineering (VDMA) in Frankfurt. A particular sharp drop was registered with regard to foreign demand. Business with foreign customers dropped by 60% as compared to April in 2008, while the volume of domestic orders fell by 52%. more…