THE TAKEAWAY: German exports rise an unexpected 3.9% in May -> Germany finding new buyers for exports outside of Europe -> Euro trades steadily under 1.2300
The German trade balance for May was higher than expected at 15.3 billion Euros, beating analysts’ expectations for a 14.0 billion balance. The higher balance was due to the better than expected exports, which grew 3.9% instead of the forecasted 0.2%. Imports were also up 6.3%, more than the forecasted 0.8%. Just last month, exports were down a revised -1.7%, according to the Federal Statistics Office.
The exports to the Euro-zone were down 2.3% in May, while exports to countries outside of Europe were up 3.4%, demonstrating Germany’s success in making up for lost exports to struggling European neighbors, thereby hedging some of the negative effects of the debt crisis.
The Euro didn’t noticeably respond to the better than expected German exports as traders are focused on the meeting of Euro-zone finance leaders set for later today. EURUSD has steadily treaded slightly beneath 1.2300 resistance in today’s session, following major declines last week on news of minimum ECB monetary action and weak US jobs data.
