• German unemployment figures on the decline – from 7.3% to 7.1% (German Federal Statistics Office)
• UK Service sector output up by 1.3% in January (ONS)
• Small upward revision to the UK GDP of the last quarter  of 2010  – GDP shrank by 0.5% instead of the originally forecast 0.6% (ONS)
• The euro zone’s inflation rate rose from 2.4% to 2.6% in February
• In March, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) was broadly unchanged at 107.4 in the whole European Union (European Commission)

What’s Down:

• German retail sector down by 0.3%  in February from the previous month (Federal Statistics Office)
• Greece and Portugal credit ratings downgraded
• UK Consumer confidence fails to recover significantly after its biggest monthly drop in nearly 20 years (GfK Nop Social Research)
• The ESI also showed a decrease by 0.6 point to 107.3 in the countries operating  in the euro zone (European Commission)

The ups and downs may be a matter of fractions but in the greater scheme of things they are supposedly the chief indicators which tell us how our economies are doing and what might be lying in store for us, and this has a major effect on how we live and how we do business.  This is never so true in the UK, where the government spending cuts, tax rises and unemployment figures have all combined to make consumers much more aware of their personal finances and spending – and this naturally impacts on business. 

It’s easy to get dragged down by the news reports but there are glimmers of good news out there – unemployment down in Germany due to their upward economic swing, strong January figures in the UK.  We’re not denying that times are tough, but we also should not forget that there are still plenty of opportunities available for businesses to do well in straightened times, and it is small to medium sized businesses that have the ability to react nimbly and quickly to changing landscapes with fresh thinking and originality.

After all, our week in numbers shows that only 19% of businesses we surveyed in the Sage Business Index were less confident about their business prospects in 2011, with the majority more confident or seeing no major difference.  That has to be a good economic indicator.