Another evening of Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) data from the Eurozone. As readers may be aware my major macro theme on Europe under current policies has been the same for quite some time now:
Periphery nations weakening, France in the middle, Germany outperforming, but the whole ship slowly sinking.
A few weeks ago, when the last batch of final PMI data came out, I also stated:
Actually , to be honest, I am a little more worried about France than that statement suggests. If you have been following my European posts for a while you may remember my warning on the country back in July last year and my repeat of those concerns again in December. In case you haven’t read those posts my basic premise is that France isn’t that much different from some of the periphery nations in terms of its macro economic statistics. As I said:
A quick glance at French fundamentals tells you they are in a similar position as the Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. High debt in both the public and private sectors, trade imbalance that continues to grow and a current account that has been in the red for years.
To the last night’s data then…
Read More:
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2012/04/europes-sets-course-for-perpetual-recession/