Eurozone's trade balance returns to surplus in Feb, suggests modest recovery gathered momentum in Q1

Data released by the European Union's statistics agency on Wednesday showed that eurozone's trade balance with the rest of the world returned to surplus in February after a rare deficit the previous month. Eurozone's February seasonally adjusted global trade balance rose to EUR 19.2bln beating forecasts at EUR 18.0bln.

Eurozone's non-seasonally adjusted global trade balance came in at EUR 17.8bln, also above forecasts at 16.2bln and compared to -0.6bln in the previous month. Seasonally adjusted exports rose by 0.4 percent from January, while imports were down 1.7 percent.

Surveys of businesses and households released earlier this year suggest growth is picking up. Today's return to surplus adds to the optimism and boosts hopes that a modest recovery in the eurozone gathered momentum in the first quarter.