According to official data published at the beginning of this year, it was consumer spending that drove Germany’s economy during 2014. Now experts are feeling positive about the future. Some officials have suggested that the largest economy in the Eurozone may actually be able to perform far better than expected during 2015.
A decline in existing home sales and a slowdown in manufacturing suggest the U.S. economic recovery may be stalling.
The National Association of Realtors announced Monday that total existing home sales fell 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million units in January, the lowest level since April 2014. While mortgage rates have fallen significantly from April, buyers are not coming to the market as much as many analysts had expected.
Most experts suggest that New Zealand is not capable of enjoying the economic growth rates seen in other parts of the world. However, finance minister Bill English has assured economists that New Zealand will return to strength this year, after originally suggesting that the country would start to see improvement in 2014. At this point, New Zealand may be able to sustain long-term growth around 3% per annum without inflationary pressures or supply constraints.
After reaching an agreement to give both sides more time to negotiate, Greece will submit a new economic plan to EU legislators this week in the hopes of reaching an agreement.
Late on Friday, the EU announced reaching a tentative agreement that gave Greece a four-month extension so that the 19 Eurozone nations could find common ground on how to move forward. “We agreed on four months under conditions,” said Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling.
As Brazil’s central bank continued raising interest rates, inflation in the world’s second largest South American market reportedly rose to 7.14%, from 6.41% at the beginning of 2015. This is way above the government’s earlier estimated 4.5%.
Brazil’s statistic agency mentioned in a statement that according to the national benchmark IPCA (Indices de Precios de Consumo Armonizados) index, monthly inflation has risen from 0.78% in December, to 1.24% in the month of January. This is the quickest pace of inflation since 2003.
According to recent data, the solar industry in the United States added jobs at a rate that was almost twenty times faster than last year’s average. A report published by the Solar Foundation discovered the creation of over 31,000 jobs in the 12 months beginning November 2013.
According to that same report, about 85% of those are brand new positions. Today, 173,807 people in the US have jobs related to the solar power industry. This number increased 87% over the last five years.
While a stalemate on a restructuring of Greek debt has caused uncertainty in Europe, negative economic indicators in the U.S. are causing many analysts to rethink their optimistic view of the world’s largest economy.
President Obama is asking congress to raise the minimum wage (MW) to $10.10 an hour, from $7.25. The appeal has taken place only months after Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed a bill to raise the MW in California to $10 an hour in 2016.
Although it is easy to think of a MW increase as a benefit on the surface, it is not that simple. The increase, alongside at least two state proposals, will only harm small businesses, and reduce the amount of full or part-time jobs.
Less Americans are buying houses and applying for mortgages in a trend that is hurting the new housing and construction industries.
In three separate reports from different agencies and private firms released Wednesday, the United States real estate sector showed marked weakness while manufacturing productivity was significantly weaker than expected.
The Ukrainian crisis continues to cause headaches for Russia’s economy, including the Russian automotive sector. With the U.S. and Europe enforcing severe sanctions over exports to Russia, car sales plummeted to a record low.
