• German economy did better in Q1 than expected a month ago
• Activity is likely to have picked up again somewhat
• Price growth is likely to ease further even if core inflation remains elevated for some time
• Services inflation is anticipated to ease slowly moving forward
• High employment should keep supporting consumption, with unemployment likely to fall slightly in the month ahead

Just a couple of token remarks but the long story short is that the German, and euro area, economy has held up better than expected to start the new year. Inflation is still a problem but the situation and outlook should gradually improve in the months ahead, even if core prices are estimated to hold higher for now. At least, that is what they are believing.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.