There was Olympic upset for Germany yesterday as Ukrainian Yana Shemyakina took gold at the women’s individual epee. Shemykina’s victory relegated the German defending champion Britta Heidemann to second place and a silver medal.
After a controversial semi final, in which the timing of the match was questioned, Heidemann was just proud to bring home Germany’s first 2012 medal, no matter what the colour. Speaking to reporters Heidemann stated: ‘Of course I would have loved to take my second gold medal but after five tough matches here I think I have won silver and not lost gold.’
This surprise Olympic result has been followed by a surprise economic result.
Last month the Bundesbank raised its 2012 growth forecast to 1 percent from 0.6 percent, attributing the rise to domestic consumption. Today, despite economists predicting a gain of 0.5 per cent, the Wiesbaden Federal Statistics Office has stated that in June German retail sales declined for a third month.
Before today’s report was released Dekabank economist Andreas Scheuerle asserted: ‘Wages are rising strongly and the labor market is stable but we’re not seeing much of those stimulating effects yet. It’s about time for retail sales to pick up. I don’t expect them to surge in coming months but we should see moderate growth rates in the next two quarters.’
However, adjusted sales fell 0.3 per cent from April and have now fallen a further 0.1 per cent from May, the longest series of declines in almost five years.
Euro-zone uncertainty has been attributed as part of the reason behind this unexpected figure.
Although investor and entrepreneur confidence declined in July with the intensification of the sovereign debt crisis, a market research company has predicted that consumer sentiment is on the up. GFK have forecast that consumer sentiment will reach its highest level in five months in August.
It has also been released today that after 7,000 more people joined the jobless in July German unemployment reached 2.89 million.
For more than two and a half years German unemployment had maintained a nearly continuous decline. In April this changed and, according to reports released by the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg, German unemployment has risen for a fourth consecutive month.
The 7,000 figure was seasonally adjusted and fell in line with predictions made by economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The adjusted jobless rate remained at 6.8 per cent. They cite delayed hiring resulting from the sovereign debt crisis as the primary cause.
Alexander Krueger, Chief Economist at Bankhaus Lampe KG, explained his take on the situation.
‘There’s going to be a certain amount of holding back when it comes to companies. That will have an effect on the labor market, as companies are more likely to just hold on to staff rather than hire.’
However, the euro-zone linchpin has no cause for major alarm just yet. German unemployment figures are significantly lower than those attached to other users of the common currency and wages across the board are increasing in support of consumer spending.
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