Global| Sep 28 2007The German IFO Index Shows a Broad Weakening
Summary
The German IFO Index shows a broad weakening in its various sector indexes. Like the EU index, the decline though broad is also slow. The business expectations index is now only in the top one-third of its range the current situation [...]
The German IFO Index shows a broad weakening in its various sector indexes. Like the EU index, the decline though broad is also slow.
The business expectations index is now only in the top one-third of its range the current situation and overall climate indexes sport readings in the low 80 percentile of their respective ranges.
For MFG the reading overall is a still strong 92 percentile for the current situation but the forward-looking readings are much deteriorated from that. Business expectations are only in the top third of the range. as is month-to-month demand and orders on hand. Foreign orders on hand remain much stronger residing in the 96th percentile of their range.
The 3-month outlook sector is relatively firm with expected MFG activity in the 80th percentile. But orders expectations have been steadily slipping and are now just above the range midpoint at 57% for retail orders. Wholesale orders expectations are firm, in the top third of their range. Export expectations are still in the low 80th percentiles – but all of these readings are slipping. Employment expectations have slipped to the bottom third of their range.
| IFO Survey: Germany | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent:Yr/Yr | Index Numbers | ||||||||
| sep 07 |
aug 07 |
jul 07 |
jun 07 |
may 07 |
current | average | curr /Avg |
%tile | |
| Biz Climate | -0.9% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.2% | 2.8% | 104.2 | 95.7 | 108.9% | 81.0% |
| Current Situation | -1.3% | 2.4% | 2.4% | 1.6% | 4.7% | 109.9 | 94.8 | 115.9% | 83.2% |
| Biz Expectations: Next6-Mos | -0.4% | -1.1% | -0.9% | -1.2% | 1.0% | 98.7 | 96.7 | 102.1% | 69.1% |
| Manufacturing: | sep 07 |
aug 07 |
jul 07 |
jun 07 |
may 07 |
current | average | curr /Avg |
%tile |
| Current Situation | |||||||||
| MFG | 0.8% | 4.4% | 4.5% | 4.4% | 6.7% | 110.3 | 92.3 | 119.5% | 92.8% |
| Biz Expectations: Next 6-Mos | |||||||||
| MFG | -1.4% | -1.9% | -0.4% | -2.8% | 0.9% | 97.0 | 96.5 | 100.6% | 66.1% |
| Activity (m/m) | |||||||||
| MFG | -4.5% | 1.0% | -1.9% | -3.7% | 2.0% | 102.9 | 97.0 | 106.1% | 77.8% |
| Demand M/M | |||||||||
| MFG | -6.3%> | -2.8% | -3.3% | -7.1% | 0.5% | 100.3 | 97.1 | 103.3% | 65.6% |
| Orders on hand | |||||||||
| MFG | -4.7% | -2.4% | -2.8% | -3.6% | -0.9% | 101.2 | 96.4 | 104.9% | 69.0% |
| Foreign orders on hand | |||||||||
| MFG | 0.5% | 2.5% | 1.9% | 2.0% | 2.5% | 111.3 | 94.5 | 117.8% | 96.0% |
| Yr/Yr percentage changes in underlying Indexes | |||||||||
| IFO outlook for 3-Months ahead | |||||||||
| 3-Mos ahead | Percent: Yr/Yr | Index Numbers | |||||||
| Expected Activity | sep 07 |
aug 07 |
jul 07 |
jun 07 |
may 07 |
current | average | curr/ Avg |
%tile |
| MFG | -0.9% | 2.4% | 1.0% | 3.3% | 0.5% | 100.3 | 96.8 | 103.7% | 80.6% |
| Orders expectations | |||||||||
| Retail Orders Expectations | -1.8% | -10.5% | -11.7% | -10.9% | -4.7% | -18.0 | -17.6 | 102.2% | 57.3% |
| Wholesale | -0.1% | 7.7% | 7.0% | 5.6% | 15.7% | -1.1 | -13.9 | 7.9% | 67.1% |
| EXPORT Biz Expectations | |||||||||
| MFG | -1.4% | 0.9% | 0.0% | 0.5% | -0.5% | 102.3 | 98.4 | 103.9% | 83.0% |
| Employment Expectations | |||||||||
| MFG | 4.1% | 4.1% | 7.4% | 8.4% | 7.5% | 104.5 | 96.0 | 108.8% | 33.3% |
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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