The popular image of the German industrial machine politics is one which has Germany’s massive factories efficiently churning out goods for trade with the South of Europe (Club Med). Because of the common currency, numerous disparities starting with productivity differences had left the South highly indebted to the North just as the Global Financial Crisis would strike. The aftermath of that crisis, particularly the...
Read More »Harmful Modern Myths And Legends
Loreley Rock near Sankt Goarshausen sits at a narrow curve on the Rhine River in Germany. The shape of the bluff produces a faint echo in the wind, supposedly the last whispers of a beautiful maiden who threw herself from it in despair once spurned by her paramour. She was transformed into a siren, legend says, a tantalizing wail which cries out and lures fishermen and tradesmen on the great river to their death. While...
Read More »Global PMI’s Hang In There And That’s The Bad News
At this particular juncture eight months into 2018, the only thing that will help is abrupt and serious acceleration. On this side of May 29, it is way past time for it to get real. The global economy either synchronizes in a major, unambiguous breakout or markets retrench even more. That’s been the basis of this thing from Day 1; or, more accurately, Day 3.01. Reflation #3 wasn’t really any different in type from...
Read More »Euro Area PMIs: Still Little Good News Below the Surface
We see little evidence of a rebound in business taking shape, reinforcing our revised 2018 GDP growth forecast. Although euro area flash PMI indices were roughly in line with expectations in August, some details were less positive than the headline numbers, suggesting that downside risks have not yet disappeared. True, at face value, the small rise in the euro area composite PMI index, from 54.3 in July to 54.4 in...
Read More »FX Daily, June 22: BOE Spurs Dollar Pullback
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.23% to 1.153 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, June 22(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The euro and sterling closed above Wednesday’s highs yesterday, and after making new lows for the year, chartists regard the price action as a key reversal and the follow-through buying today confirms it. Although we expected a hawkish hold from...
Read More »FX Daily, March 05: Italian Election Weighs on Italian Assets, but Little Systemic Risk Seen
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.08% to 1.1549 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, March 05(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar is narrowly mixed. The Japanese yen remains firm. The dollar appears stuck in a narrow range. Near JPY105.20 the seems to be some short-covering pressure in front of JPY105. On the top side, the greenback is encountering offers...
Read More »Euro area: The sky is the limit
Momentum in the euro area picked up further at the end of the year. The flash composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) increased to 58.0 in December, from 57.5 in November, above consensus expectations (57.2). The improvement was once again broad-based across sectors. Both the manufacturing (+0.5 to 60.6) and services (+0.3 to 56.5) indices improved in December, with the former reaching its highest level since the...
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