Euro-Area
Unemployment At Record, Inflation Quickens: Economy
Euro-area
unemployment rose to a record and inflation quickened more than
economists forecast as rising energy costs threaten to deepen the
economic slump
31
August, 2012
The
jobless rate in the economy of the 17 nations using the euro was 11.3
percent in July, the same as in June after that month’s figure was
revised higher, the European Union’s statistics office in
Luxembourg said today. That’s the highest since the data series
started in 1995. Inflation accelerated to 2.6 percent in August from
2.4 percent in the prior month, an initial estimate showed in a
separate report. That’s faster than the 2.5 percent median forecast
of 31 economists in a Bloomberg survey.
A
12.4 percent surge in crude-oil prices over the past two months is
leaving consumers and companies with less money to spend just as
governments seek ways to contain the debt crisis. European economic
confidence dropped more than economists forecast to a three-year low
in August and German unemployment increased for a fifth month, adding
to signs the euro-area economy continued to shrink in the third
quarter.
“The
whole euro zone is undergoing negative growth developments,” Don
Smith, a London-based economist at ICAP Plc, told Ken Prewitt on
Bloomberg Radio yesterday. “The sense is that increasingly the
euro-zone crisis is bearing down on countries in northern Europe and
Germany in particular and this is really forcing officials’ hands
toward coming up with a firm solution.”....
Baltic
index slips on weaker capsize and panamax rates
31
August, 2012
Reuters
reported that the Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which
tracks rates for ships carrying dry commodities, fell on Wednesday on
lower rates for capesize and panamax vessels.
The
main index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize,
panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, fell 6
points or 0.83 percent to 718 points.
The
overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities such as
iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, has fallen about 59
percent this year....
Aviation:
Growth Slows Again in July
IATA,
30
August, 2012
The
International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global
traffic results for July showing slower growth in both air travel and
freight, but with considerable variation by region and market.
- July passenger demand in aggregate was 3.4% higher than the same month last year, compared to a 6.3% increase in June and average growth of 6.5% over the first half of the year. This slowdown in travel growth is being driven largely by the recent fall in business confidence in many economies.
- July freight demand was 3.2% lower than it was in the same month last year. This is down on the 0.1% year-on-year growth rate of June. A large part of that decline was due to a comparison with a relatively strong July last year, but overall the trend in air freight is weak, in line with subdued world trade growth
Catalonia
Cut To Junk As Spain Bails Out Bankia, Deficit Swells
31
August, 2012
Catalonia’s
credit rating was cut to junk by Standard & Poor’s after
Spain’s most indebted region said it needs to tap a national rescue
fund, even as the central government said its budget deficit swelled
to 48.5 billion euros ($61 billion) in the year through July....
Chinese
Investors Snap Up German Industry
CNBC,
31
August, 2012
When
a leading maker of high-tech cement pumps here met China’s largest
heavy construction equipment company, it was love at first sight.
“It
was a perfect match,” says Norbert Scheuch, CEO of the German
company Putzmeister, of its $450 million sale to the Sany Group in
January. “Usually you have to restructure — something doesn’t
fit quite right and you have to make adjustments. But that wasn’t
the case.”
The
merger is believed to have been the largest ever between the two
countries. It may not be for long: It’s part of a growing trend
that may change the culture of a sector that has traditionally been
wary of outsiders.
Chinese
investors are on a shopping spree in Germany, and in one sector in
particular: the legendary Mittelstand — small and mid-sized
companies, many of them family-owned, that provide the backbone of
Europe’s strongest and wealthiest economy....
Korea Industrial Production Slides As Europe Hits Exports
31
August, 2012
South
Korea’s industrial production fell for a second month in July as a
global slowdown undermines growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Output
fell 1.6 percent from June when it dropped 0.6 percent, Statistics
Korea said today. The median estimate of 12 economists in a Bloomberg
News survey was for a 0.9 percent decline. Production rose 0.3
percent from a year earlier.
South
Korean manufacturers’ confidence is near the lowest level since the
global financial crisis as European austerity measures and a slowdown
in China limit exports. HSBC Holdings Plc says the central bank may
cut interest rates on Sept. 13 after a surprise reduction in July.
“The
contraction in export growth will have weighed on the country’s
manufacturing sector, causing a further slowdown in industrial
production,” Ronald Man, a Hong Kong-based analyst at HSBC said
before the release. The economy may “bottom out in the third
quarter,” Man said.
Lee
Yong Sup, an opposition Democratic United Party lawmaker, said this
week that his party will drop a push for an extra budget to spur
growth, because it’s now too late in the year.
Signs
that the economy is cooling include an Aug. 29 report that the
current-account surplus climbed to a record in July because of
declining imports. An index measuring manufacturers’ confidence for
September was at 75 from 70 the previous month, the only readings
below 80 since 2009.
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