GDP figures out of China, where the economy grew at its weakest pace in nearly three years, could weigh on markets
Markets have been rocked by data out of China, where the economy grew at its slowest pace in nearly three years in the first quarter.
FTSE 100: down 0.3%, or 17 points, at 5693
German DAX: down 0.2%
French CAC: down 0.4%
Spanish IBEX: down 1%
Italy's FTSE MIB: down 0.6%
French president Nicolas Sarkozy said Britain is in "a far worse economic situation than France", in a televised debate last night.
With the first round of the presidential elections little more than a week away, Sarkozy faces a tough fight against French Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande. Some polls suggest Sarkozy would beat Hollande in the first round on April 22, but would still lose in a likely second-round on May 6.
During the debate, Sarkozy took aim at the Financial Times, accusing it of blindly supporting the "Anglo-Saxon model" of economics. He said:
They don't agree with me, which I really rejoice in that, you know, because I don't agree with them. The FT, as they say in informed circles, has always defended the Anglo-Saxon model, considering the French incorrigible and that we would do better to align ourselves to the Anglo-Saxon model.
The FT explains to us that it is necessary to act exactly like Britain, which is in a far worse economic situation than France.
Separately, it emerged that Sarkozy had falsely bragged during an election rally that he had visited the Fukushima nuclear plant after last year's Japanese earthquake. He didn't, in fact, leave Tokyo on his visit to Japan.
A poll, carried out by CSA on April 10 and 11, showed both leading candidates lost ground since a comparable poll a week ago. Hollande lost two percentage points to 27% and is now ahead of Sarkozy, who lost four percentage points to 26%.
It's all about the inflation data today, with figures from Spain, Italy and the US. We've also got a few ECB members speaking. Here's the agenda so far.
• German consumer price index for March: 7am BST
• ECB board member Jorg Asmussen speaks: 7.55am BST
• Spain consumer price index for March: 8am BST
• Italy industrial production for February: 9am BST
• UK producer price index for March: 9.30am BST
• Italy consumer price index for March: 10am BST
• Bank of France governor Christian Noyer speaks: 10.30am BST
• ECB council member Klaas Knot speaks: 11.30 BST
• US consumer price index for March: 1.30pm BST
• US University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey: 2.55pm BST
• ECB council member Carlos Costa speaks: 3pm BST
• Fed chairman Ben Bernanke speaks: 6pm BST
In the debt markets the UK is selling £3.5bn of treasury bills, and Belgium is selling some non-benchmark government bonds.
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone financial crisis.
Markets this morning are likely to be spooked by GDP figures out of China, where the economy grew at its weakest pace in nearly three years in the first quarter. We've had inflation figures out of Germany, where consumer prices rose by 0.3% in March, compared with 0.7% in February.
There's more inflation data out later from Italy, Spain and the US. Then over in New York, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will give his reflections on the crisis and the policy response.