Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Stock Attack II - A Complete Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (42304)	1/17/2003 10:43:55 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52237

may be another 25 bp. The big problem there is Germany wages increased at an average of 4% or close to it last year, and they are running a budget deficit in excess of 3% of GDP. France is close to 3% and Italy are using smoke and mirrors to avoid the 3% ceiling. US is one of Europe big markets and even that Russia, CIS & CEE countries are improving they can not be the swing importers. IMHO the fast slide of the USD is intentional, done by hostile entities to damage the US credibility and economy. A soft slide of 1 to 2% a month would be beneficial but 6% to 7% a month is damaging. BWDIK Haim

To: mishedlo who wrote (42304)	1/18/2003 12:11:30 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 52237

France Resists EU Pressure to Reduce Deficit as Growth Slows By Emma Vandore Brussels, Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- France is resisting European Union pressure to start reducing its deficit this year and balance its budget by 2006, standing by tax reductions meant to spur the economy. President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin plan to go ahead with tax cuts, setting aside an ``early warning'' to be issued by the EU on Tuesday that France's 2003 deficit may overstep the limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product. ``France is trying to get as much freedom of maneuver to support its own economy,'' said Julian Callow, chief continental European economist at Credit Suisse First Boston Ltd. in London and a former Bank of England official. ``To cut its deficit down to zero by 2006 would require a lot of fiscal tightening.'' With the EU predicting that the European economy may shrink in the first quarter after growth slid to a nine-year low in 2002, France is stepping up its pleas for a loosening of the public borrowing limits of Europe's ``stability pact.'' Germany, which designed the pact to bolster the euro's credibility, topped the limit with a deficit of 3.8 percent last year. Finance Minister Hans Eichel isn't challenging the closer monitoring of the German deficit that EU ministers will announce at their meeting on Tuesday. `Political' Spending France plans tax cuts totalling 3.86 billion euros ($4.1 billion) this year, part of a five-year tax-relief program that helped Chirac win re-election last year. The deficit in Europe's third largest economy will increase to 2.9 percent, the European Commission estimates. Raffarin called for a ``political perspective'' on the budget rules, saying governments should be free to spend as much as they want on research and possibly defense without facing EU sanctions. ``Not all spending in Europe is the same,'' Raffarin said yesterday. ``If research were taken out of the 3 percent criterion, this would mobilize all the EU countries and encourage them to invest.'' A relaxation of the rules faces opposition from countries such as Finland, the only euro nation the commission expects to post a budget surplus this year. France will stay inside the deficit limit in 2003, Raffarin says. The government is putting off balancing public finances until 2007. Under EU voting rules, France can't block the recommendations to be issued Monday, though it isn't bound to uphold them either. Recession Risk quote.bloomberg.com