Euro area Q4-18 GDP stable at 0.2% QoQ

Euro area GDP growth stabilized at 0.2 % QoQ in Q4 2018 , in line with consensus expectations. While France and Spain still showed solid growth at 0.3 % and 0.7 % respectively , Italy fell into technical recession. Indeed, Italian GDP contracted for the second consecutive quarter (-0.2% in Q4 after -0.1% in Q3). A ccording t o the first estimation, GDP grew by 1.8% in 2018 (vs 2.5% in 2017) , slightly below our expectations (1.9%).