U.S. interest rates are better this morning with the U.S. stock markets opening lower on reports out of China showing its economy is slowing more than thought. China’s GDP rose 8.1% in the first quarter from a year earlier following an 8.9% increase in the fourth quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing said today. That was less than the 8.4% growth predicted. China’s economy is slowing as exports decline to Europe and the U.S. The latest data shows imports are also slowing.
Europe’s debt problems are back as we noted previously. Average net borrowings by Spanish banks climbed to 227.6 billion euros last month from 152.4 billion euros in February, the Bank of Spain said. lender s in the whole euro system took 361.7 billion euros, the data showed. Spanish government bonds are headed for a second weekly decline, a sign the respite in the region’s debt crisis created by the ECB’s three-year loan program may be coming to an end. 17 of 22 economists surveyed this week predicted the ECB will be forced to resume its so-called Securities Markets Program to contain bond yields. In Italy there are protests by labor unions against the austerity plans being implemented. Prime Minister Monti’s pension plan was part of a $26 billion austerity package passed in January to fight the sovereign crisis by putting Italy’s debt, the second highest in Europe after Greece, on a downward trajectory from next year.
