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In February 2008 compared with January 2008, the euro area (EA15) industrial new orders index grew by 0.6%. In January the index grew by 2.2%. In the EU27 new orders remained stable in February 2008 and fell by 1.0% in January. Excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment industrial new orders decreased by 0.3% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU27. In February 2008 compared with February 2007, industrial new orders increased by 9.9% in the euro area and by 9.2% in the EU27. Total industry excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment grew by 7.2% in the euro area and by 6.3% in the EU27.

The Conference Board announced that the leading index for Germany declined 0.9 percent and the coincident index increased 0.1 percent in February.

The uncertain outlook for growth and inflation as well as improvements to financial supervision in the EU and the strong euro were key issues discussed by European Central Bank Vice-President Lucas Papademos when he presented the ECB's annual report to the Economics Committee on Monday.

The European Commission has presented to the European Parliament its regular report on the openness of the European market to imports from developing countries. The report sets out how the EU has continued in 2007 to use its trade policy to advance a pro-development agenda and analyses the relevant data for which the most recent available is for the period up to the end of 2006. The report shows that the EU continues to offer market access for developing country exports that is unmatched by any other major economy. EU imports from developing countries rose 16% in 2006 from 2005 and by 14% if imports from China are excluded. According to the WTO, overall global merchandise trade grew by around 8% over the same period.

According to the latest revisions, the EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 2.8 billion euro in the fourth quarter of 2007, compared with a deficit of 13.4 bn in the fourth quarter of 2006 and a deficit of 21.2 bn in the third quarter of 2007.

We now have confirmation that the British banking system is in denial and so sick that it needs special Government assistance. In fact Britain's big name banks could be accused of living in cloud cuckoo land after losing Northern Rock last year in the biggest failure so far of the subprime crisis and credit crunch.

The Conference Board reports that the leading index for France declined 0.3 percent and the coincident index increased 0.2 percent in February.

Between 2000 and 2007, EU27 exports of goods to Japan fell slightly in value, from 45.5 bn euro to 43.7 bn, while EU27 imports from Japan decreased by 15%, from 92.1 bn to 77.9 bn. As a result the EU27 deficit in trade with Japan declined from 46.6 bn in 2000 to 34.2 bn in 2007.

The annual growth rate of the outstanding amount of debt securities issued by euro area residents decreased from 8.5% in January 2008 to 8.0% in February. For the outstanding amount of quoted shares issued by euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 1.3% in February 2008, the same as in January.

Fitch Ratings says in a Special Report that Italy's largest banks are well-positioned to operate in a more difficult market environment.