Euroland
German Inflation
September 28, 2011
Consumer prices in Germany according to preliminary estimates advanced 0.4% seasonally adjusted in September, and the 12-month inflation rate climbed 0.2 percentage points to 2.6%, a three-year high. Energy was responsible for somewhat over a third of all on-year inflation. Moreover, the momentum of German inflation has been subsiding as attested by an annualized three-month [...] More
A Busy Day of Data Releases, Events, and Market Movement
September 15, 2011
The dollar is lower, with overnight losses of 1.2% against the kiwi, 0.5% relative to the euro and sterling, 0.4% against the Swiss franc, 0.2% versus the Canadian and Australian dollars, and 0.1% against the yen. The yuan is steady. Stocks are up by a strong 2.1% in Germany, 2.0% in France, 1.6% in Britain, [...] More
Service Sector Activity Accelerated in the U.S. but Slowed in Euroland Last Month
June 3, 2011
U.S. service sector activity partly recovered in May according to the purchasing manager survey after a sharp slowdown in April. In Euroland, however, there was a slower pace of positive growth in May with only marginally rising activity in Ireland, Spain and Italy. The U.S. minus Euroland PMI spread for services therefore narrowed by 2.5 [...] More
PMI Data Show Big Swing in Europe’s Favor
May 4, 2011
In January of this year, the United States purchasing manager survey indices in both manufacturing and services exceeded their Euroland counterparts by 3.5 points each. Just three months later, it is Euroland’s service sector that enjoys a 3.5-point advantage over the United States, and the spread in manufacturing has narrowed by 1.1 points to +2.4 [...] More
Stronger Euro and Commodity Prices
April 8, 2011
Gold at $1471.20 per ounce is at another record peak. Silver hit a 31-year high of $40.23 per ounce. Oil reached a 30-month high of $111.68 per barrel and is 1.1% stronger on the day. The ECB’s tightening yesterday has buoyed the euro, which at $1.4411 is 0.7% above yesterday’s closing level. The dollar also [...] More
Euroland PMI-Services Score Pulled Almost Even with U.S. PMI in March
April 5, 2011
Just a tenth of a point separated the U.S. and Euroland service sector purchasing manager readings in March. That gap was down from 2.9 points in February and 3.5 points in January, and such constituted Euroland’s best relative position in six months. Germany (60.1) and France (60.4) had significantly better readings than America’s score of [...] More
Weaker Dollar at End-Quarter
March 31, 2011
The dollar fell overnight by 0.6% against the euro, 0.4% versus the Swiss franc, 0.2% against the Canadian dollar, and 0.1% relative to the yen, kiwi, Aussie dollar, yuan, and sterling. The dollar has lost 5.8% against the euro since the end of 2010. Most Asian equities rose overnight, with gains of 1.0% in Indonesia, [...] More
Euroland Data Point to ECB Rate Hike a Week from Tomorrow
March 30, 2011
The last rate hike at the European Central Bank was by 25 basis points in July 2008 and shrouded in controversy, coming just over two months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered an intensifying global recession. The refinancing rate has been at 1.0% since May 2009, some 325 basis points lower than the prior [...] More
Purchasing Managers Surveys: Smaller U.S. Advantage Against Euroland
March 3, 2011
The United States and Euroland experienced fairly decent activity in both service sector activity and manufacturing last month according to purchasing manager survey data released this week. In a scale where a score of 50.0 delineates neutrality between expansion and contraction and readings of 60 connote a truly brisk pace, none of the four overall [...] More
Heavy Data Barrage But Not Much Currency Movement
March 1, 2011
The dollar shows gains of 0.3% against the yen and 0.2% relative to the kiwi. The U.S. currency is unchanged against the yuan and Swiss franc and down 0.1% against sterling, the Canadian dollar, the euro and the Australian dollar. Today see a slew of data releases and the spotlight on several central banks. The [...] More
