RBS's index of manufacturing activity declined to 50.5, the lowest since August 2005, from April's 50.7. French consumer spending on manufactured goods unexpectedly fell for a second month in April as shoppers curbed purchases of cars and clothes, a report by France's statistics office showed today.
Today's decline was led by services. RBS's gauge of growth in services industries such as banking and telecommunications slumped to 50.6 from 52.0, matching a 4 1/2-year low reached in January. A measure of business expectations fell to 56.1 from 58.7, the lowest since November 2001.
Profit at Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-largest semiconductor maker, would be cut by 120 million euros if the dollar stayed at current levels against the euro in fiscal 2009, Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Ziebart said last month.
Air France-KLM Group, Europe's largest airline, yesterday posted its first quarterly loss since 2003 and said earnings this year will drop almost 30 percent as fuel prices soar and an economic slowdown dents demand for travel.
``All forward-looking indicators are very weak,'' said Sunil Kapadia, an economist at UBS Ltd. in London. ``The economy will continue to deteriorate. Banks will continue to tighten credit. We expect real disposable income to shrink in 2008.''
Investors' low valuation of Airbus is ``a bizarre outcome for a large company,'' Campbell, whose firm is an investment bank for EADS, said in an interview. ``It reflects both the industrial challenges of engineering and making big airplane programs, and particularly and primarily, the euro trading at $1.50 or $1.60.''
bloomberg.com
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