The euro was extremely weak on Wednesday, losing against nearly every major currency, but on the other hand, the British pound dominated. There wasn’t much in the way of European economic news, but according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), the nation’s visible trade deficit widened to 7.003 billion pounds from 6.471 billion pounds during the month of April, as import growth outpaced a pickup in exports. At the same time, the ONS also said that industrial output rose by 0.3 percent during April, the first increase since February 2008 and the largest rise since October 2007. The improvement was due primarily to jump in mining and quarrying production, though the 0.2 percent increase in manufacturing output was notable in that it was the second consecutive positive result. That said, it’s important to keep these moves in perspective, as the annual rate of industrial production remains deeply negative at -12.3 percent.
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