Reparations bill
Germany-Greece tension
In a sign of the increasing gamesmanship being employed on each side of the eurozone debt negotiations, Greece has calculated it is owed €279bn by Germany in war reparations for Nazi occupation of its homeland in World War Two. That a parliamentary committee has been set up to bring long-running war damages requests to bear reflects the country's dissatisfaction at what it sees as Berlin's inflexibility over its eurozone rescue package. Its latest €450m loan was due this week, and each new boatload of cash leaving the indebted state makes it more critical that a longer-term deal is reached to manage the country's debts.
Iran accord
A slow return
The international community largely welcomed the tentative accord reached between Iran and six world powers - the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - which promised relief from sanctions in return for curbs on the state's nuclear programme. Oil stocks reacted positively to the deal, though there is doubt over when sanctions could be lifted, and a question mark over whether both President Obama and Iran's supreme leader Khamenei can sell the deal to hardliners in their countries. US's key ally in the region, Israel, opposed the deal struck in Lausanne, and said it should be modified to end all research into advanced centrifuges and for the closure of a prominent uranium enrichment site.
Rome rising
Growth forecasts up
Italy is getting closer to emerging from a three-year recession, with upgraded economic forecasts expecting growth of 0.7 per cent in 2015, 1.4 per cent in 2016 and 1.5 per cent in 2017. A key driver has been the introduction of quantitative easing by the European Central Bank, as well as depressed oil prices keeping energy costs low. Italian business confidence also hit its highest level in seven years in March, but concerns linger over unemployment and industrial production data.
Aldi takes 5th
Discounters on the march
Aldi has overtaken Waitrose as the fifth biggest supermarket in the UK in the year to 29 March, with 5.3 per cent of the market, up from 4.6 per cent the year before. Waitrose's share of consumer spend also ticked up slightly to 5.1 per cent from 5 per cent, but was overtaken by its German counterpart. The grocery figures from Kantar Worldpanel reflected the march of the discounters with Aldi and Lidl growing their consumer spend in pound terms by 16.8 per cent and 12.1 per cent respectively. See this week's cover feature from page 22 for an analysis of the ongoing supermarket wars.
Car sales boosted
In the economic driving seat
UK car sales had their biggest March on record as a combination of a benign credit environment and the launch of the new '15' registration plate encouraged car buyers to shell out on a fresh set of wheels. Dealers sold 492,774 cars last month, which is a 6 per cent increase on the previous year. The figures underlined the continued strength of the car market, as an indicator of consumer spend, that we have already seen benefit the annual results of motor finance providers such as lender S&U (SUS).
Retail wobble
Eurozone sales down
A note of caution to the eurozone optimists was sounded by a fall in retail sales across the currency union in February, after four consecutive months of increases. Retail sales fell 0.2 per cent from January's level, but were 3 per cent higher year-on-year. Some market watchers suggested the fall reflected the spur to consumer spend created by deflated prices was beginning to weaken, while others pointed to improved business sentiment to support a more positive longer-term trend.
