Back

Newletter Issue 28th November 2011

28 November 2011

 

Overview

Last week saw increasing fears of slowing global growth/final demand and further EU sovereign debt contagion. France's ability to hold on to its AAA rating is at risk. S&P warned that EU recession would be a negative for the regional credit outlook. Lack of bids at the German 10yr bond auction was no less than a disaster for investors' morale.

The Euro zone flash November composite PMI at 47.2 was the third month below 50, suggesting a contraction of economic activity. The data IS consistent with Q4 GDP contracting about 0.5% against the 0.2% growth reported for Q3. Manufacturing PMI slipped to 46.4 from 47.1 the previous month and Germany, reported its second month with manufacturing below 50.

The drop in China's flash November HSBC manufacturing PMI back below 50 was negative growth news. The measure slipped to 48.0 from the final 51.1 in October. This was the lowest reading in 32 months.

In regional news, Dubai International Capital (DIC), a unit of Dubai Holding, the conglomerate owned by the ruler, has agreed the terms for a $2.4 billion debt restructuring with its creditors. It should be noted that DIC's assets include UK hotel chain Travelodge, Doncasters and European aluminum maker Almatis Holdings BV.

Furthermore, Fitch Ratings has assigned Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank's (ADIB) USD 500m 3.78% trust certificates due November 2016, a final rating of 'A+.'

Friday Closing Levels

SP500

1,158.67

EUR/USD 1.3238

UST 10Y Yield

1.97

FTSE100

5,164.65

GBP/USD 1.5450

Bund 10Y Yield

2.179

DAX 

5,492.87

USD/CHF 0.9309

Gilt 10Y Yield

2.286

Hang Seng 

17,689.48

AUD/USD 0.9717

Gold

1,681.20

Nikkei

8,160.01

USD/JPY 77.72

Silver

31.14

ADX Index 

2,418.13

USD/INR 52.13

Copper (3m)

7,296

Dubai Index

1,348.59

EUR/GBP 0.8575 

WTI Crude

96.97

Euro Area

The Euro fell to its lowest levels in more than seven weeks against the USD on Friday and is poised to weaken further after a disappointing Italian bond auction raised fears that the Euro zone crisis was deepening.  The Euro had earlier lost more than 2 percent after poor demand at a German bond auction on Wednesday.

S&P added to the worries as it lowered Belgium's rating by a notch to AA and placed its credit outlook to negative. This is raising alarms after Portugal was also downgraded earlier in the week.

 

UK

Sterling inched up from a seven-week low against the USD on Friday as risk appetite improved and it advanced against the Euro, which is already badly affected  by concerns over lack of progress on efforts to contain the Eurozone debt crisis.

The traders had cited good demand for the pound from UK corporates. Gains were also driven by a bounce in stock markets, although the pound's upside is expected to be limited. 

Japan

According to the Japanese Finance Minister Azumi, Japan will not hesitate to respond to speculative currency moves to shield exporters from a strong yen. In a strong statement he added that unless the European leaders provide details of how they will limit their sovereign debt woes, it will be difficult for turbulence in markets to subside.

Japan had earlier sold nearly $100 billion worth of yen on Oct 31, after the yen hit a record high of 75.31 to rein in its high-flying currency and protect exporters.

 

US

The official U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) weekly petroleum data for the week ending November 18 showed Crude oil stocks posting a larger than expected decline due to lower imports and an increase in refinery inputs. The dynamics were in line with analysts' expectations but the magnitude was significantly larger.

 

The Week Ahead

The US Labor Department's monthly jobs data is due next Friday and if it falls short of expectations, the Euro could retrace its four straight weeks of decline against the greenback.  The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 9.0% while the median forecast for the non-farm payrolls is at 115K.

In the UK, the Office of Budget Responsibility is expected to cut its economic growth projections this week. British Finance Minister George Osborne - in his autumn statement - is likely to admit that the government faces an uphill task in meeting its deficit targets given slowing growth.

This Week's Data

Date

Country/
Curr.

Event

GMT

CONSENSUS

PREVIOUS

21-Nov Mon

JPY

JPY Coincident Index

05:00

 

88.90

 

CAD

CAD Wholesale Sales (MoM)

13:30

0.70%

0.30%

 

USD

USD Chicago Fed Nat Activity Index

13:30

0.19

-0.20

 

USD

USD Existing Home Sales

15:00

4.80M

4.90M

 

USD

USD Existing Home Sales (MoM)

15:00

-2.20%

-3.20%

22-Nov Tue

JPY

JPY Supermarket Sales (YoY)

05:00

 

-3.60%

 

GBP

GBP Public Finances (PSNCR) (Pounds)

09:30

-1.0B

20.3B

 

GBP

GBP PSNB ex Interventions

09:30

6.5B

13.0B

 

GBP

GBP Public Sector Net Borrowing (Pounds)

09:30

3.8B

10.2B

 

CAD

CAD Retail Sales (MoM)

13:30

0.50%

0.60%

 

CAD

CAD Retail Sales Less Autos (MoM)

13:30

0.40%

0.40%

 

USD

USD Gross Domestic Product (Annualized)

13:30

2.50%

2.50%

 

USD

USD Personal Consumption

13:30

2.40%

2.40%

 

USD

USD Gross Domestic Product Price Index

13:30

2.50%

2.50%

 

USD

USD Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (QoQ)

13:30

2.10%

2.10%

 

EUR

EUR Euro-Zone Consumer Confidence

15:00

-21.00

-19.90

 

USD

USD Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index

15:00

-2.00

-6.00

 

AUD

AUD Construction Work Done

00:30

2.00%

-0.10%

23-Nov Wed

EUR

EUR French Own-Company Production Outlook

07:45

 

3.00

 

EUR

EUR French Production Outlook Indicator

07:45

-27.00

-30.00

 

EUR

EUR French Business Confidence Indicator

07:45

95.00

97.00

 

EUR

EUR French Purchasing Manager Index Manufacturing

08:00

48.00

48.50

 

EUR

EUR French Purchasing Manager Index Services

08:00

45.00

44.60

 

EUR

EUR German Purchasing Manager Index Manufacturing

08:30

48.50

49.10

 

EUR

EUR German Purchasing Manager Index Services

08:30

50.00

50.60

 

EUR

EUR Euro-Zone Purchasing Manager Index Composite

09:00

46.10

46.50

 

EUR

EUR Euro-Zone Purchasing Manager Index Manufacturing

09:00

46.50

47.10

 

EUR

EUR Euro-Zone Purchasing Manager Index Services

09:00

46.00

46.40

 

GBP

GBP Bank of England Minutes

09:30

 

 

 

GBP

GBP BBA Loans for House Purchase

09:30

33000.00

33502.00

 

EUR

EUR Euro-Zone Industrial New Orders (YoY)

10:00

6.10%

5.90%

 

EUR

EUR Euro-Zone Industrial New Orders s.a. (MoM)

10:00

-2.70%

1.40%

 

USD

USD Durable Goods Orders

13:30

-1.20%

-1.50%

 

USD

USD Durables Ex Transportation

13:30

0.00%

0.60%

 

USD

USD Cap Goods Orders Nondef Ex Air

13:30

-1.00%

0.90%

 

USD

USD Cap Goods Ship Nondef Ex Air

13:30

 

-1.00%

 

USD

USD Personal Income

13:30

0.30%

0.10%

 

USD

USD Personal Spending

13:30

0.30%

0.70%

 

USD

USD Personal Consumption Expenditure Deflator (YoY)

13:30

2.70%

2.90%

 

USD

USD Personal Consumption Expenditure Core (MoM)

13:30

0.10%

0.00%

 

USD

USD Personal Consumption Expenditure Core (YoY)

13:30

1.70%

1.60%

 

USD

USD Initial Jobless Claims

13:30

390K

391K

 

USD

USD Continuing Claims

13:30

3621K

3623K

 

USD

USD U. of Michigan Confidence

14:55

64.50

64.20

 

USD

USD DOE U.S. Crude Oil Inventories

15:30

500K

-1056K

 

USD

USD DOE U.S. Distillate Inventory

15:30

-1250K

-2136K

 

USD

USD DOE U.S. Gasoline Inventories

15:30

1000K

992K

 

USD

USD Kansas City Fed Manf. Activity

16:00

9.00

8.00

 

USD

USD EIA Natural Gas Storage Change

17:00

19.00

19.00

 

NZD

NZD Trade Balance (New Zealand dollars)

21:45

-450M

-789M

 

NZD

NZD Exports (New Zealand dollars)

21:45

3.76B

3.44B

 

NZD

NZD Imports (New Zealand dollars)

21:45

4.23B

4.23B

 

NZD

NZD Balance (YTD) (New Zealand dollars)

21:45

490M

689M

24-Nov Thu

EUR

EUR German Gross Domestic Product n.s.a. (YoY)

07:00

2.50%

2.50%

 

EUR

EUR German Domestic Demand

07:00

0.50%

0.20%

 

EUR

EUR German Exports

07:00

1.60%

2.80%

 

EUR

EUR German Capital Investment

07:00

1.20%

0.40%

 

EUR

EUR German Government Spending

07:00

0.20%

0.60%

 

EUR

EUR German Construction Investment

07:00

-0.10%

-0.40%

 

EUR

EUR German Imports

07:00

1.50%

2.90%

 

EUR

EUR German Private Consumption

07:00

0.50%

-0.60%

 

EUR

EUR German Gross Domestic Product s.a. (QoQ)

07:00

0.50%

0.50%

 

EUR

EUR German Gross Domestic Product w.d.a. (YoY)

07:00

2.60%

2.60%

 

EUR

EUR German IFO - Business Climate

09:00

105.50

106.40

 

EUR

EUR German IFO - Current Assessment

09:00

115.00

116.70

 

EUR

EUR German IFO - Expectations

09:00

96.00

97.00

 

EUR

EUR Italian Consumer Confidence Index s.a.

09:00

92.40

93.30

 

GBP

GBP Gross Domestic Product (QoQ)

09:30

0.50%

0.50%

 

GBP

GBP Gross Domestic Product (YoY)

09:30

0.50%

0.50%

 

GBP

GBP Private Consumption

09:30

0.20%

-0.80%

 

GBP

GBP Government Spending

09:30

0.50%

1.10%

 

GBP

GBP Gross Fixed Capital Formation

09:30

1.10%

1.70%

 

GBP

GBP Exports

09:30

0.80%

-1.30%

 

GBP

GBP Imports

09:30

0.70%

-0.30%

 

GBP

GBP Index of Services (MoM)

09:30

0.00%

0.40%

 

GBP

GBP Index of Services (3Mo3M)

09:30

0.60%

0.40%

 

GBP

GBP CBI Trends Total Orders

11:00

-19.00

-18.00

 

GBP

GBP CBI Trends Selling Prices

11:00

0.00

1.00

 

JPY

JPY Tokyo Consumer Price Index (YoY)

23:30

-0.50%

-0.50%

 

JPY

JPY Tokyo Consumer Price Index Ex-Fresh Food (YoY)

23:30

-0.30%

-0.40%

 

JPY

JPY Tokyo Consumer Price Index Ex Food, Energy (YoY)

23:30

-0.90%

-1.00%

 

JPY

JPY National Consumer Price Index (YoY)

23:30

-0.20%

0.00%

 

JPY

JPY National Consumer Price Index Ex-Fresh Food (YoY)

23:30

-0.10%

0.20%

 

JPY

JPY National Consumer Price Index Ex Food, Energy (YoY)

23:30

-0.90%

-0.40%

 

JPY

JPY Corporate Service Price (YoY)

23:50

-0.10%

-0.10%

 

GBP

GBP Bank of England Housing Equity Withdrawal (Pounds)

 

-£6.0B

-£5.8B

 

EUR

EUR German Import Price Index (MoM)

 

-0.20%

0.60%

 

EUR

EUR German Import Price Index (YoY)

 

6.90%

6.90%

25-Nov Fri

EUR

EUR French Consumer Confidence Indicator

07:45

81.00

82.00

 

EUR

EUR Italian Retail Sales s.a. (MoM)

09:00

-0.20%

-0.10%

 

EUR

EUR Italian Retail Sales (YoY)

09:00

0.50%

-0.30%

 

Back