French confidence survey indicates towards moderation of growth in Q1 2018

The latest Bank of France business confidence survey implied that the underlying trend in French economic conditions was slightly changed in the month of February. The manufacturing index moved sideways at 104, lower than the levels seen in the fourth quarter but still considerably above the long-term average.

Order books in this sector were ample and so firms anticipate that production in March will maintain the growth of the past two months. In the meantime, construction sector sentiment was also unchanged at a level in line with expansion, but service sector activity decelerated, with the confidence indicator for this sector down edging lower from the near-eight-year-high the previous month.

“Given today's survey results, the Bank of France continues to expect French GDP to grow by 0.4 percentQ/Q in Q1, a pace in line with our own forecast and 0.2ppt lower than in Q4”, stated Daiwa Capital Market Research in a report.

At 20:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Euro was bearish at -96.5672, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 37.2821. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

FxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest