S&P 500
7,226.20
+0.01%
Dow Jones
49,494.60
-0.62%
Nasdaq 100
27,685.40
+0.66%
Russell 2000
2,804.78
-0.02%
FTSE 100
10,364.50
0.00%
Nikkei 225
59,260.50
-0.78%

Investing

German GDP Up in Q1, France Flat

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

The Federal Statistics Office of Germany said that GDP there rose 0.5% compared to the final quarter of 2011, a rate that was unexpectedly strong. Given the recessionary state of much of the balance of the European Union, Germany must have successfully exported goods and services to the balance of the world at a sharply higher pace than late last year.

In France, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies said first quarter GDP was flat compared with the fourth quarter.

The news is particularly important given the contraction of the economies of Spain, Portugal and Greece. Overall, the nations have tended to pull down EU GDP numbers. At least a part of Europe remains healthy. What is still of significant concern is whether all of Europe has fallen into recession this quarter. The fragility of the economy of the region likely will catch up to Germany because of the size of its trade within the EU.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Retirees Are Realizing a $1.5 Million Nest Egg at 60 Only Means $31,000 in Real Annual Spending
Drew Wood |

Retirees Are Realizing a $1.5 Million Nest Egg at 60 Only Means $31,000 in Real Annual Spending
71% of Americans With Financial Advisors Feel Secure. Only 10% Without One Do
David Beren |

71% of Americans With Financial Advisors Feel Secure. Only 10% Without One Do

Continue Reading

Douglas A. McIntyre |

German Recession May Have Already Started

ThinkstockThe German Federal Statistics Bureau (Destatis) reported that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) barely grew in the first quarter.…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

German, French Economies Continue to Sputter

ThinkstockGermany and France continue to barely grow, which means the chance that the two largest economies in Europe could slip…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Germany Walks the Walk on Austerity

ThinkstockDespite Germany’s economic robustness, at least compared to the balance of Europe, it will not use that health to stimulate gross…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Fresh Recessions in Germany and France

ThinkstockRecessions are defined by most experts as two quarters of contraction of gross domestic product. Deep problems with national economic…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Even Germany Gets Caught in Europe’s Downdraft

The Germany economy is so strong that it might have avoided the downdraft created by the trouble in Europe. Its…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Markets Jump for Joy as German GDP Rises

Most stock markets around the world moved higher as the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) said gross domestic product in Germany rose…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Greece Plunges Back Into Recession

While the euro area and several countries did well in the first quarter, Greece moved back into a recession, highlighting…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Europe’s Troubles Finally Trap Germany

ThinkstockGermany finally came face-to-face with deficit- and austerity-crippled Europe. Its Federal Statistics Bureau (Destatis) confirmed that its gross domestic product…
Jon C. Ogg |

OECD Offers Outlook and Suggestion for Returning Global Growth in 2013

ThinkstockThe Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has issued a global growth report for 2013. While the global economy…

Top Gaining Stocks

Cboe Global Markets
CBOE • Vol: 1,568,143
New Pluto Global
PSKY • Vol: 12,285,993
Seagate Technology
STX • Vol: 7,378,346
Oracle
ORCL • Vol: 26,317,675
Datadog
DDOG • Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ • Vol: 4,367,433
Clorox
CLX • Vol: 13,260,523
Stryker
SYK • Vol: 4,519,455
Mohawk Industries
MHK • Vol: 1,859,865
Amgen
AMGN • Vol: 3,818,618