Thursday was marked by Prelim German CPI figures. The inflation rate in Germany as measured by the consumer price index is expected to be 1.6% in March 2017. Based on the results available so far, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the consumer prices are expected to increase by 0.2% on February 2017.

On Friday, from Eurozone, German Retail Sales and Eurozone CPI figures were released. According to provisional data turnover in retail trade in February 2017 was in real terms 2.1% smaller and in nominal terms 0.3% larger than that in February 2016. The number of days open for sale was 24 in February 2017 and 25 in February 2016. Compared with the previous year, turnover in retail trade was in the first two months of 2017 in real terms 0.3% and in nominal terms 2.4% larger than in in the corresponding period of the previous year. When adjusted for calendar and seasonal variations (Census-X-12-ARIMA), the February turnover was in real terms 1.8% and in nominal terms 2.3% larger than that in January 2017.

Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 1.5% in March 2017, down from 2.0% in February 2017, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, energy is expected to have the highest annual rate in March (7.3%, compared with 9.3% in February), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (1.8%, compared with 2.5% in February), services (1.0%, compared with 1.3% in February) and non-energy industrial goods (0.2%, stable compared with February).

This week markets will be looking at:

Spanish Manufacturing PMI (Monday 9:15)

German Factory Orders (Thursday 8:00)

German Industrial Production (Friday 8:00)