The euro area economy likely expanded at the same rate last quarter as in the final three months of 2025, and inflation this month is set for a second straight increase due to the Iran war.

The data is scheduled for release just hours before the European Central Bank is set to announce its latest rate decision, with analysts predicting a rate hold.

An economists’ poll said quarterly GDP growth in the Eurozone rose 0.2% last quarter after increasing at that rate in the previous period. Also due with the preliminary data report Thursday is the year-on-year rate, with a Q1 rise of 0.9% expected following 1.2% in the previous three months.

PMIs during the first quarter suggested that economic activity in the euro area was ticking along quite well. Even the results from March, the first month of the war, pointed to growth. The manufacturing measure shot to a 45-month high of 51.6 points, with economists noting that companies had ramped up production to meet demands for stock building amid worries of rising costs for raw materials and a breakdown of supply chains due to the war. At the same time, the March services index fell to a 10-month low, which pulled down the overall composite reading to 50.2 points, its worst mark in nine months but still in the expansion zone above 50.

(Continue Reading – LS)

HONG KONG, April 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - BYD's new strategy to revive growth will be a gear change. China's $130 billion electric-vehicle maker saw its earnings more than halve, in the recent quarter. CEO Wang Chuanfu wants to focus on luxury cars, but the tools he used to engineer a lead in the mass market may not serve him so well this time.

The company on Tuesday reported earnings in the three months to March plunged 55% from a year ago to 4.1 billion yuan ($600 million). That's largely driven by a 12% fall in sales, reflecting feeble demand and relentless price wars at home.

Against this backdrop, BYD is betting on higher-margin premium models. Its sporty Denza Z9 GT, ⁠for example, costs around 300,000 yuan in China, more than four times its popular budget models like the Seagull. At the Beijing auto show this week, the company also showed off a new supercar, which launches in Europe later this year, that aims to take on established marques Porsche and Maserati.

(Continue Reading – RTRS)

BERLIN, April 29 (Reuters) - Inflation rose in three key German states in April, preliminary data showed on Wednesday, suggesting Germany's national inflation rate could increase this month amid higher energy prices due to the Iran war.

In Bavaria, the inflation rate rose to 2.9% in April from 2.8% in the previous month. In Lower Saxony, it ⁠accelerated to 3.0% from 2.6%, and in Baden-Wuerttemberg to 2.6% from 2.5%.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the consumer price index stood unchanged at 2.7%.

The war in Iran has pushed energy and raw material prices, straining household budgets and raising costs across German industries. The German government now expects inflation to accelerate to 2.7% this year and 2.8% in 2027.

Economists polled by Reuters are forecasting a harmonised national inflation rate in Germany - ⁠the euro zone's largest economy - of 3.1% in April, up from 2.8% in the previous month.

(Continue Reading – RTRS)