Italy reported that its economy squeezed by 0.7% in the second quarter of 2012. Early expectations stood on a drop of 0.7%, after a drop of 0.8% in Q1, 0.7% in Q4 and 0.2% in Q3. With this report, Italy completes a full year of recession. On a yearly basis, the Italian economy squeezed by 2.5%.
EUR/USD traded at around 1.2415 before the publication and is around the same levels now.
Earlier, Italy reported a drop of 1.4% in its industrial production. This was worse than a drop of 1% that was estimated. The previous month saw a rise of 1%.
Italy, the euro-zone’s third largest country, is also suffering from a rapidly rising unemployment rate.
Italian PM Mario Monti was very active recently in trying to shore up the euro-zone. More details about the Italian situation are in the monthly report, which you can download below.
