Euroland
U.S. Regains PMI-Manufacturing Lead From Europe
September 1, 2010
The U.S. minus euro area PMI differential in manufacturing swung to +1.2 in August from minus 1.2 in July. The spread had been negative in July for only the first time since December 2008, averaging +3.0 in that 18-month span and peaking in January 2010 at +6.0. The U.S. purchasing managers index rose 0.8 points, [...] More
Scant Change in U.S. Minus Ezone Services PMI Differential Last Month
August 4, 2010
The United States and Euroland each recorded decent expansion in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing as the third quarter got under way. In services, the U.S. index rose a half point to 54.3, while the euro area reading of 55.8 was 0.3 points above the level in June. In manufacturing data reported on Monday, the U.S. [...] More
Awaiting U.S. Retail Sales and FOMC Minutes
July 14, 2010
From a high of 88.02/USD, the yen had lost 0.7% by yesterday’s close, but it did not retreat further overnight. The dollar is also unchanged against the Aussie dollar and Chinese renminbi. The greenback has fallen 0.6% against sterling but shows gains of 0.3% against the Swiss franc, 0.2% versus the kiwi and Canadian dollar, [...] More
Swissy Strengthens, Kiwi Weakens
June 28, 2010
The summit of G-20 leaders in Toronto over the weekend released a statement that had something for everybody. Omitted any reference to the yuan or, more generally, foreign exchange conditions and policy coordination. Identified a strengthening recovery as the key near-term priority. Warned of the downside risk from a synchronized fiscal adjustment across several major [...] More
U.S./Euro Area Manufacturing PMI Spread Shows Widest Advantage in Four Months
June 1, 2010
The purchasing manager indices fell in May by 1.8 points in Euroland but just 0.7 points in the United States. The differential between those two readings increased 1.1 points as a result to its greatest width since January despite a near 20% appreciation of the dollar against the euro since November. Manufacturing is export-intensive, so [...] More
U.S. Minus Euroland Services Spread Narrowed Last Month
May 5, 2010
Implied activity in the United States service sector remained brisk last month but failed to quicken further. This allowed it to be overtaken marginally by Euroland’s index and caused the spread between the sum of the services and manufacturing PMIs, depicted below in the right-most column to drop to 2.6 from 4.3. The U.S. subindex [...] More
Marginal Narrowing of U.S. Minus Euroland Factory PMI Spread
May 3, 2010
Activity in manufacturing was robust last month in both the United States and euro area according to their respective purchasing manager surveys. In a scale where readings above 50 connote increasing speeds of expansion, the United States reported a score of 60.4, 0.8 points better than in March, and Euroland’s score improved a full point [...] More
Slightly Softer Dollar and Yen
April 29, 2010
The dollar and yen declined 0.4% against the Canadian dollar, 0.2% against the kiwi, Aussie dollar, euro and sterling and by 0.1% relative to the Swiss franc. Japanese markets were shut for the first holiday of “Golden Week,” Day of the Showa. They will be open Friday but closed next Monday through Wednesday. Asian equities [...] More
Conflicting Signals From Europe
April 22, 2010
The dollar has appreciated 0.4% against the euro and Swissy, 0.2% versus the Canadian dollar and 0.1% relative to sterling and the Australian dollar. The greenback has dipped 0.2% against the yen and 0.1% versus the kiwi. The Nikkei slumped 1.3% and again fell below 11K, while stocks in Greece got hammered 2.4%. Equities have [...] More
Bailing Out Greece Not Like the 2009 Bail-Out of U.S. Banks
April 20, 2010
Watching the drip-by-drip evolution of talks to avoid a near-term Greek government default leaves me with a feeling of deja vu. Didn’t the plan to infuse major U.S. banks that began in late 2008 also take much longer than expected and include several big and unexpected steps backward along the way? Many faux pas were [...] More
