Eurozone bank lending slowed in February. Bank lending to companies in the eurozone slowed for the fourth month in a row during February, as an economic downturn and increased caution from banks appear to be taking their toll, European Central Bank (ECB) data showed on Monday. Credit to the private corporate sector decelerated to an annual rate of 3.3 percent in February, the slowest since August 2021, down from 3.8 percent in January. Further, data showed that the money supply, as measured by M3, increased at the slowest pace since October 2014. M3 grew by an annual rate of 2.9 percent, weaker than last January’s 3.5 percent increase. “Due to the turmoil in the financial system, banks in the eurozone could further tighten the conditions for granting loans, which would slow down economic growth and inflation”, ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said in an interview.

US home prices fell for the seventh month. The prices of homes in the US fell for the seventh consecutive month in January, in spite of the recent pullback in mortgage rates, data provided by S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller showed on Tuesday. The US National Home Price Index showed that house prices fell 0.5 percent in January compared to the prior month, as high mortgage rates discouraged homebuyers. “2023 began as 2022 had ended, with U.S. home prices falling for the seventh consecutive month,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at S&P DJI.

Italian consumer confidence exceeds one-year high. Consumer confidence in Italy improved for the second consecutive month in March, surpassing its highest level in just over a year, survey results from the Italian statistics office Istat showed on Tuesday. Italy's consumer confidence index rose to 105.1 in March 2023 from 104.0 in February, due to improvements in various indicators, including the economic climate, current, and personal indicators, according to Istat. The future climate indicator remained essentially unchanged in March, at 113.5 from 113.4 the previous month. On the other hand, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator (IESI) index, which measures business confidence, also increased to 110.2 from 109.2.

UK shop price inflation hits new high. The UK supermarket price inflation has scaled another record high in March, pushing the increase in the average annual household bills to 837 British pounds, even though shoppers increasingly tap multiple supermarkets in their quest for bargains. Shop price inflation accelerated to a record annal rate of 8.9 percent in March, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. This was an increase from the 8.4 percent reading reported in February. In the meantime, inflation in food prices soared to 15 percent in March, up from 14.5 percent in February. This is also the highest inflation rate of the data series in the food category, said the BRC. However, BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickson said "food price rises will likely ease in the coming months, particularly as we enter the UK growing season, but wider inflation is expected to remain high.

The slump in Chinese industrial firms' profits deepened in the first two months of 2023, effected by weak demand in the last quarter of 2022 and stubbornly high costs as the country struggled to fully shake off the long-term effects of stringent Covid lockdowns. FY 2022 results at industrial firms fell by 22.9 percent in the first two months of 2023 from the year before, official data showed on Monday. Zhou Maohua, an analyst at China Everbright Bank, said “a decline in auto sector profits was a notable drag on manufacturing profits, thanks in large part to a moderation in overall demand, production costs, fading auto subsidies and price wars.”

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