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Economy in Brief
Japan's Inflation Shows Mixed Gains
Japan's inflation rose by 0.4% in July...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Continue to Fall in July
Existing home sales declined 5.9% (-20.2% y/y) in July to 4.810 million units...
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell Again in July
The Conference Board's Composite Leading Economic Indicators Index fell 0.4% m/m...
U.S. Philly Fed General Activity Index Back to Positive Reading in August
The current general activity diffusion index rose nearly 19 points in August to 6.2...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Slightly Lower
Initial claims for unemployment insurance went down 2,000 in the week ended August 13 to 250,000...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Robert Brusca October 18, 2007
European trade is proving to be resilient in the face of a strongly rising euro currency. Some of this is undoubtedly the reflection of true strength, but some is also the acumen of the European exporters who have learned to use markets to hedge and some perhaps to giving back some profit margins as the euro puts an increasingly strong squeeze on margins and makes even hedging less of a dodge for foreign exchange rate induced pressures. Euro area data show that foreign orders have been slipping and remarks by policymakers and businesses leaders indicate that businesses are feeling the pinch. So far the data only show that exports are not just growing but also accelerating. Imports have slowed and that is particularly clear in the six-month growth rates. Over three months both exports and imports are locked into some real strength. The growing surplus is again poised to augment EMU growth in Q3.
m/m% | % Saar | ||||
Aug-07 | Jul-07 | 3M | 6M | 12M | |
Balance* | 4,345 | 809 | 3,301 | 3,650 | 2,679 |
Exports | |||||
All exports | 4.9% | -0.9% | 28.9% | 11.9% | 12.8% |
Food and drinks | 2.8% | 2.5% | 36.5% | 10.7% | 13.4% |
Raw materials | -0.6% | -1.5% | 0.4% | 9.5% | 12.6% |
MFG | 2.8% | -0.3% | 26.1% | 6.3% | 11.5% |
Imports | |||||
All imports | 2.0% | 2.4% | 27.7% | 7.1% | 6.5% |
Food and drinks | -0.1% | 0.7% | 22.7% | -2.7% | 6.2% |
Raw materials | 0.2% | 2.3% | 19.5% | 2.1% | 6.1% |
MFG | 0.5% | 1.5% | 23.3% | -0.8% | 8.7% |
*Million Euros; mo or period average |