Global| Feb 04 2009EMU Consumer Spending Tanks Along With Spending Plans
Summary
The chart at top shows the Yr/Yr trend in EMU consumer spending. It is working its way lower, lead by a declining trend in consumer spending plans. The Yr/Yr drops seem to have stopped to hover around the -2% pace, Yr/Yr. But the [...]
The chart at top shows the Yr/Yr trend in EMU consumer
spending. It is working its way lower, lead by a declining trend in
consumer spending plans. The Yr/Yr drops seem to have stopped to hover
around the -2% pace, Yr/Yr. But the table shows that more recently
downward momentum seems to have picked up. Over six months the sales
volume is only lower at a 1.2% annual rate but over three-months that
is down to a -4.4% pace. The drop in the pace of nonfood items has
accelerated even more sharply over the recent 3-months as economic
conditions have worsened. Despite some really poor consumer sentiment
surveys spending in the UK is holding up. In Germany, though,
conditions are poor.
| Ezone (15) Retail Sales Volume | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec-08 | Nov-08 | Oct-08 | 3-Mo | 6-MO | 12-Mo | |
| Zone-15 Total | 0.0% | -0.1% | -1.0% | -4.4% | -1.2% | -1.7% |
| Food | 0.2% | -0.1% | -0.7% | -2.2% | 0.0% | -1.1% |
| NonFood | -0.4% | -0.2% | -1.1% | -6.6% | -2.2% | -2.3% |
| Textiles | #N/A | -0.5% | -3.1% | -4.3% | -6.6% | -2.1% |
| Books news, etc | #N/A | -1.1% | -1.1% | -9.0% | -5.0% | -3.9% |
| Pharma | #N/A | 0.2% | -0.6% | -1.6% | 1.1% | 0.6% |
| Other NonSpec | #N/A | 0.3% | 0.1% | -0.6% | -3.6% | -2.0% |
| Mail Order | #N/A | -0.1% | -1.9% | -4.3% | -1.9% | -0.6% |
| Country detail; Volume | ||||||
| Germany: VolxAuto | -0.2% | -0.1% | -0.9% | -4.6% | 0.6% | 0.2% |
| Italy (Total; Value) | #N/A | -0.2% | -0.4% | -1.5% | -1.5% | -1.3% |
| UK (EU): Vol | 1.6% | 0.3% | -0.2% | 6.7% | 6.2% | 3.9% |
| Shaded areas calculated on a one-month lag due to lagging data | ||||||
| The EA 13 countries are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, | ||||||
| Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia | ||||||
Robert Brusca
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Robert A. Brusca is Chief Economist of Fact and Opinion Economics, a consulting firm he founded in Manhattan. He has been an economist on Wall Street for over 25 years. He has visited central banking and large institutional clients in over 30 countries in his career as an economist. Mr. Brusca was a Divisional Research Chief at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Chief of the International Financial markets Division), a Fed Watcher at Irving Trust and Chief Economist at Nikko Securities International. He is widely quoted and appears in various media. Mr. Brusca holds an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research pursues his strong interests in non aligned policy economics as well as international economics. FAO Economics’ research targets investors to assist them in making better investment decisions in stocks, bonds and in a variety of international assets. The company does not manage money and has no conflicts in giving economic advice.
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