German Bank, Commerzbank's making progress in reshaping its business but still has a long way to go as higher shipping loan losses and low interest rates continue to squeeze profits. The bank provided detail on its Q4 earnings announced Feb. 4. It lost (EURO)716 million largely due to one-time losses of (EURO)185 million on its sale of Bank Forum in Ukraine and (EURO)560 million in tax accounting charges.

German import prices declined for the first time in 3-years in January. The import price index fell 0.8% YoY in January, following a 0.3% increase in the previous month. It is expected a 0.4% decline. This was the first annual decline in the price index since December 2009.