The Confederation of British Industry’s retail sales balance stood at +12 in April compared to +18 in March. The drop is ascribed to the declining sales among grocers, despite a broad-based increase among most types of retailers. On the other hand, the optimism over next month’s sales improved strongly.

The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) stated house purchase mortgage increased to a six-month high of 38,751 in March from 37,453 in February, mainly driven by lower mortgage rates due to reduced prospect of a rate hike by the Bank of England. Moreover, consumer borrowing rose £400m m-o-m in March.

The latest Lloyds Bank Spending Power Report indicated people are more optimistic about the current situation in the UK as the index jumped 10 points to 207 in March 2015. Meanwhile, the overall index rose 4 points to 158 due to optimism in personal, household and employment situation in the country.

The China National Bureau of Statistics revealed industrial profits in March fell 0.4% y-o-y to ¥508.61bn. In Q1 2015, profits declined 2.7% y-o-y to ¥1.25tr. The agency attributed the slower decline to a steeper drop in raw material prices and reduced financing costs.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel met Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Brussels. After the meeting, she stated that Greece should be prevented from defaulting before it signs a cash-for-reform deal with its international creditors. The details of the meeting were kept confidential.

Germany raised its economic growth projection for 2015 to 1.8% from the earlier 1.5% in January. The revision factored in strong performance in the labor market, including record high employment rate with rising wages, and higher consumer spending in the country.

In the Eurozone, the government debt to GDP ratio rose to a high of 91.9% y-o-y for 2014 compared to 90.9% a year earlier. At 177.1%, Greece recorded the highest ratio (175% in 2013). Meanwhile, the government deficit to GDP ratio declined to 2.4% from 2.9%. Denmark, Germany, Estonia and Luxembourg recorded a government surplus for the year.

Poul Thomsen, Director of the IMF’s European Department and head of its programme with Greece, informed positive developments have taken place in the negotiations between Greece’s government and its creditors in the past few days. The Greek government’s finances are likely to last until June, he further added.

According to Rightmove, the asking house prices in UK accelerated 1.6% m-o-m in April from 1.0% in March, which escalated the average asking house price to £286,133. However, on y-o-y basis, the price growth slowed to 4.7% from 5.4% in March.

The ECB’s Survey of Professional Forecasters for Q2 2015 indicated inflation in the Eurozone is likely to reduce to 0.1% in 2015 due to lower oil prices, but would stand at 1.2% and 1.6% in 2016 and 2017, respectively, on accommodative monetary policy measures. On the other hand, real GDP growth projections were raised to 1.4% for 2015, 1.7% for 2016 and 1.8% for 2017. The earlier GDP estimates were 1.1% for 2015, and 1.5% for 2016 and 1.7% for 2017.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ monthly house price balance increased to +21 in March from +15 in February. The improvement in the reading was primarily ascribed to shortage of properties.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) stated growth in UK house prices slowed to 7.2% y-o-y in February compared with 8.4% in January. Excluding London and the South East, house prices rose 5.9% y-o-y in February. Moreover, the average house price in the UK improved 0.6% m-o-m to £268,000.

The British Retail Consortium stated retail sales in the UK increased 4.7% y-o-y in March, the fastest rise since April 2014, compared with a 1.7% y-o-y gain in February. On a like-for-like basis, sales rose 3.2% in March vis-à-vis 0.2% in February. The growth was largely ascribed to rising wages and pre-Easter trading in March.

The Lloyds Bank regional Purchasing Managers’ Index indicated business activity in England increased to 59.0 in March, the fastest in seven months, from 56.9 in February. The average reading for 2014 was 58.3. Moreover, business activity in Wales rose to 59.8 from 56.9 in February. The growth was largely ascribed to improvement in new business orders and backlog of outstanding work.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the UK’s trade deficit for goods and services widened to £2.86bn in February, a seven-month high, from £1.54bn in January. Moreover, export of goods declined to £23.16bn, the lowest since September 2010.

According to a survey by the Bank of England, banks in the UK expect mortgage demand to rise in the next three months (April-June) following a significant decline in the previous two quarters. However, lending to businesses is projected to remain unchanged for the quarter.

According to BRC, retail prices in the UK fell 2.1% y-o-y in March compared with a 1.7% drop in February. The decline was triggered by a sharp fall of 0.9% in food prices for the month.

Greece’s Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas stated that Germany owes it €278.7bn in reparations for the Second World War, including the occupation loan that Nazi Germany imposed on the Bank of Greece.

The Office for National Statistics stated the output per hour worked fell 0.2% during Q4 2014 from Q3 2014. The drop was ascribed to a faster rise in employment than output.

According to Eurostat, Eurozone’s unemployment rate edged down to a seasonally adjusted 11.3% in February, its lowest level since May 2012, from 11.4% in January. The unemployment rate in February 2014 stood at 11.8%.