Eurozone monetary pick-up stalls in December
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 03:26PM
Simon Ward

Eurozone narrow money trends remain consistent with an economic recovery but today’s December numbers were slightly disappointing, showing some loss of momentum into year-end. Country divergences, moreover, remain large, with troubling weakness recently in Spain and, to a lesser extent, France.

Narrow money M1 – comprising physical cash and overnight deposits – is a better economic leading indicator than the broader M3 measure, while credit is a coincident indicator. The six-month change in Eurozone real M1 has recovered from -0.8% (not annualised) in April 2012 to 2.7%* in December, a level historically consistent with respectable economic expansion – see first chart. This is down, however, from a 4.7% peak in October, suggesting that the growth pick-up will fade from the spring, allowing for the typical half-year lead.

A key focus here has been whether capital reflux and returning confidence would be reflected in a rise in narrow money in peripheral economies, warranting recovery hopes. The latest news is mixed: the six-month change in real M1 deposits was positive for a second month in Italy (0.7%) but has plunged further into negative territory in Spain (-4.5%)**. Elsewhere, growth continues in Ireland while Portuguese real M1 deposits are flat and the rate of decline in Greece has slowed – second chart.

The Italian / Spanish divergence within the periphery is mirrored by a contrast between German strength and French weakness in the core, although the decline in French real M1 deposits moderated in December. A recent sharp slowdown in Dutch growth, meanwhile, bears monitoring – third chart.

With the Eurozone monetary pick-up showing signs of stalling, the ECB may have been unwise to allow banks to make large repayments of their three-year LTRO loans, thereby reducing dramatically “excess” system liquidity. Was this Maestro Draghi’s first misstep?

*The six-month M1 change may be artificially inflated by 0.7 of a percentage point because of the initial capital subscriptions, totalling €32 billion, paid by governments to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in October. (ESM deposits, unlike those of central governments, are included in the money measures.)

**Spanish banking sector balance sheet statistics for December reflect both a transfer of bad loans to SAREB, a government-sponsored agency, and a capital injection in the form of securities from the ESM. These transactions have distorted credit and capital data but should not have affected deposits.

 

Article originally appeared on Money Moves Markets (https://moneymovesmarkets.com/).
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