by Bill | Sep 23, 2013 | Emerging Markets, European Economy
Below is an excerpt from our weekly report from last Wednesday. On Friday, Moody’s downgraded Ukraine to Caa1 (from B3), citing plummeting FX reserves, downside risk from future negotiations with the IMF, and Ukraine’s worsening relations with Russia....
by Bill | Sep 13, 2013 | European Economy, Featured, Global Economy, UK
Data in the UK have taken an unequivocally positive turn. PMIs for services, construction and manufacturing are at 3 year highs. Furthermore, the underlying picture is healthy, with the new orders to inventory ratio for manufacturing surging to 1.4. This has...
by Bill | Aug 13, 2013 | European Economy, Leading Indicators
Variant Perception has been writing about positive leading indicators in Europe for the past 6 months and, in this light, the recent improvement in the data is coming in as expected. The cyclical recovery in Europe is real and will likely have further to go in the...
by Bill | May 31, 2013 | European Economy, Press
Variant Perception’s Claus Vistesen was on BBC World Business this week talking about the eurozone periphery and how governments will be given more time to adjust their budget deficits. You can play the clip here through BBC’s iPlayer (UK viewers only,...
by Bill | Apr 30, 2013 | European Economy, Featured, Fiscal Policy
The spotlight remained on Portugal the end of last week as EU finance ministers agreed to give the country seven more years to repay its stock of existing loans. Still, despite the words of praise showered on the country the deficit containment record has been a...
by Bill | Apr 23, 2013 | China, European Economy, Featured, Global Economy, US Economy
Germany remains the proverbial strong man of Europe, but we are skeptical that this is a fitting moniker. Looking at exports, it is now clear that Germany and thus Europe continues to see weakness. The total value of German exports has now clearly rolled over from its...
by Bill | Mar 22, 2013 | European Economy, Fiscal Policy, Global Economy
France looks increasingly like it is slipping into recession. It is the poorest performing core country – an increasingly inapt label. Highlighting this are the latest PMI numbers. The services PMI, already woefully depressed, slipped lower last month, to...
by Bill | Feb 22, 2013 | European Economy
This weekend’s Italian elections are provoking a good deal of commentary and fueling mounting concern about possible consequences for the European debt crisis, and in particular for the outlook for Italian sovereign spreads in the short term. We think much of this...
by Bill | Feb 12, 2013 | European Economy, Global Economy, Japan, Monetary Policy
The Euro is making headlines again, this time not due to its possible imminent disappearance as a currency but rather as a result of what many regard as its undue strength. Last week’s press briefing comments by ECB President Mario Draghi to the effect that...
