The German economy

The German Economy Has Cracked

Business Insider,

21 June, 2012

A significant economic event has taken place in Europe today...

All through the crisis, the German economy has been stunningly resilient, despite the fact that all of its natural export markets were collapsing.

The miracle run is coming to an end.

The latest Flash PMI report from Markit is not pretty (find the full report here).

The big sub-headline from the report is this:

Steepest drop in German private sector output for three years. Euro crisis leads to survey-record monthly fall in service providers’ business outlook.

And these details from the report indicate the same problems...

 

An optimist might say that this is the best thing that could happen to Europe. After all, until Germany's economy weakens, it really has no incentive to see any kind of change, let alone economic stimulus, in Europe.

One Flash PMI report won't change anything, but a string of data might cause Angela Merkel to sit up, especially as she thinks about her re-election next year.