Besides the battle of words between Greece and Germany, other data throughout the Euro Area is pointing to challenging times for the monetary union even after a resolution of Greece. Italy yesterday announced the latest figures for nonperforming loans, showing a surge to €185.5 billion, the highest on record, reaching nearly 10% of annualized GDP. This coupled with 33-straight months of contraction in bank lending is not a positive sign for the Euro Area’s third largest economy just as the ECB’s Mario Draghi tries to orchestrate a turnaround in the lending. After a modest bounce, the Euro is once again trending lower against peers as expectations of Greek exit rise. Although not yet impacting lending, quantitative easing is seeing regional equity benchmarks soar, with the German DAX hitting new record highs yesterday.
European Lending Stalls
Daily Analysis - 17/03/2015