Forexpros – The euro zone’s current account swung to an unexpected deficit in February, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the European Central Bank said that the euro zone current account recorded a seasonally adjusted deficit of EUR1.3 billion in February, from a surplus of EUR3.7 billion in January, whose figure was revised from a surplus of EUR4.5 billion.
Economists had expected the region’s current account surplus to widen to EUR5.0 billion in February.
The report said that the 12-month cumulated seasonally adjusted current account recorded a surplus of EUR2.1 billion in February, less than 0.1% of euro area gross domestic product, compared with a deficit of EUR18.1 billion a year earlier.
This shift resulted from increases in the surpluses for goods, services and income, and from a decrease in the deficit for current transfers.
Following the release of the data, the euro held on to modest losses against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD shedding 0.15% to trade at 1.3107.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were mixed to lower after the open. The EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.4%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.35%, Germany’s DAX declined 0.15%, while London’s FTSE 100 added 0.1%.
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