Magyar nyelven nem elérhető
Gwenaël Le Breton
- 18 October 2024
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 7, 2024Details
- Abstract
- This box summarises the findings of recent contacts between ECB staff and representatives of 95 leading non-financial companies operating in the euro area. According to these exchanges, which took place between 16 and 26 September 2024, business momentum slowed somewhat over the summer, mainly as a result of declining confidence in the industrial sector, causing firms to scale back investment and focus on cost cutting. Meanwhile, the anticipated recovery in consumer spending was still rather patchy. Price growth moderated further overall, mainly on account of some easing in services prices. Wage growth was expected to slow further next year, while still compensating to some extent for past inflation.
- JEL Code
- E2 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy
E3 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
L2 : Industrial Organization→Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
- 27 October 2023
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 7, 2023Details
- Abstract
- This box summarises the findings of recent contacts between ECB staff and representatives of 56 leading non-financial companies operating in the euro area. According to these exchanges, which took place between 25 September and 5 October, aggregate activity appeared to have contracted in the third quarter of 2023 and was expected to contract further in the fourth quarter. While there were still notable differences across sectors, tailwinds supporting activity in some sectors were reportedly fading and headwinds in other sectors continued to hold activity back. The growth rate of selling prices continued to slow in the third quarter of 2023 and further moderation was anticipated for the fourth quarter. This reflected a recovery of supply alongside moderating demand in some sectors, as well as relatively stable non-labour input costs. Wage growth remained strong but was expected to moderate slightly in 2024. The effect of tightening financing conditions over the past 12 months was notably greater in the industrial sector than in the services sector and was expected, on balance, to intensify in the next 12 months.
- JEL Code
- E2 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy
E3 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
L2 : Industrial Organization→Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
- 5 May 2023
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2023Details
- Abstract
- This box summarises the findings of recent contacts between ECB staff and representatives of 61 leading non-financial companies operating in the euro area. According to these exchanges, which took place between 30 March and 13 April, aggregate activity growth remained subdued in the first quarter of 2023, albeit with notable differences across sectors. Declining activity reported in the consumer goods, retail and construction sectors was offset by growth in the consumer services and capital goods sectors in particular. These developments were expected to continue in the short term, while uncertainty regarding the outlook for 2023 as a whole remained elevated. The rate of growth of selling prices continued to moderate, driven especially by developments in the energy, transport and intermediate goods sectors. Consequently, non-labour input costs stabilised for most firms. Expectations for wage growth remained strong and were broadly unchanged, with wage growth remaining the main cost concern for the surveyed companies.
- JEL Code
- E2 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy
E3 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
L2 : Industrial Organization→Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
- 14 April 2022
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2022Details
- Abstract
- This box summarises the main findings from contacts between ECB staff and representatives of 67 leading non-financial companies operating in the euro area. The exchanges mainly took place between 20 and 30 March 2022. According to these contacts, overall activity developed positively in the first months of the year, despite ongoing supply constraints as well as cost and price pressures. The war in Ukraine added further disruption to businesses, mainly in the form of further price increases for energy and raw materials, much of which would be passed through to selling prices, as well as shortages resulting in reduced production in some sectors. Overall, contacts expected growth to slow in the coming months, as higher inflation would reduce disposable income and final consumer demand, while uncertainty and downside risks were substantial.
- JEL Code
- E2 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy
E3 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
L2 : Industrial Organization→Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
- 24 March 2022
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 2, 2022Details
- Abstract
- This box reviews the inventory cycle in the euro area, which normally is procyclical and notoriously volatile. The annual change in stocks of finished goods in manufacturing, based on PMI data, points to a continued positive inventory contribution to GDP growth in the first quarter of 2022. While fluctuations in this contribution generally reflect adjustments to cyclical changes in supply and demand, the current acceleration in stockbuilding could also reflect a “bullwhip effect”. This occurs where, as a precaution, manufacturing firms tend to hoard inventories of inputs, and at times inflate orders compared with actual needs, when faced with high demand and uncertainty about the supply of inputs. Looking ahead, short-term indicators and evidence from the ECB’s regular dialogue with non-financial companies point to further re-stocking needs, although the pace of such inventory building would depend on the resolution of the prevailing supply-side constraints.
- JEL Code
- F44 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→International Business Cycles
G31 : Financial Economics→Corporate Finance and Governance→Capital Budgeting, Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies, Capacity
R41 : Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics→Transportation Economics→Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion, Safety and Accidents, Transportation Noise
- 23 April 2021
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2021Details
- Abstract
- This box summarises the main findings from contacts between ECB staff and representatives of 66 leading non-financial companies operating in the euro area. The exchanges took place between 23 March and 1 April 2021. According to these contacts, activity in much of the services sector continued to be strongly influenced by the prevalence of lockdowns and travel restrictions. Meanwhile, in the manufacturing sector, supply was increasingly failing to keep up with demand owing to shortages of inputs, which may continue for some weeks or months. Industrial companies pointed to some upward movement in prices, while prices in the services sector remained subdued.
- JEL Code
- E2 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy
E3 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
L2 : Industrial Organization→Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
- 31 August 2009
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 105Details
- Abstract
- The financial crisis has enhanced the need for close monitoring of financial flows in the economy of the euro area and at the global level focusing, in particular, on the development of financial imbalances and financial intermediation. In this context flow-of-funds analysis appears particularly useful, as flow-of-funds data provide the most comprehensive and consistent set of macro-financial information for all sectors in the economy. This occasional paper presents different uses of flow-of-funds statistics for economic and monetary analysis in the euro area. Flow-of-funds data for the euro area have developed progressively over the past decade. The first data were published in 2001, and fully-fledged quarterly integrated economic and financial accounts by institutional sector have been published since 2007. The paper illustrates how flow-of-funds data enable portfolio shifts between money and other financial assets to be assessed and trends in bank intermediation to be monitored, in particular. Based on data (and first published estimates) on financial wealth over the period 1980-2007, the paper analyses developments in the balance sheet of households and non-financial corporations in euro area countries over the last few decades and looks at financial soundness indicators using flow-of-funds data, namely debt and debt service ratios, and measures of financial wealth. Interactions with housing investment and saving are also analysed. In addition, the paper shows how flow-of-funds data can be used for assessing financial stability. Finally, the paper presents the framework for and use of flow-of-funds projections produced in the context of the Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projection exercises, and reports the outcome of a sensitivity analysis that considers the impact of interest rate changes on the interest payments and receipts of households and non-financial corporations.
- JEL Code
- E44 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
E47 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
E51 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Money Supply, Credit, Money Multipliers - Network
- Eurosystem Monetary Transmission Network