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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (4756)	1/11/2004 11:02:20 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 110194

quote.bloomberg.com Decline in Confidence Still, Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest carmaker, and Thales SA, the biggest maker of defense electronics, are among exporters that have been hurt by the euro's appreciation against the dollar. Altana AG, Germany's fifth-largest drugmaker, predicts that the euro's increase will have a ``negative effect'' on 2004 earnings. European business confidence fell in December for the first time in five months as a buildup of unsold goods and the euro's gains led some executives to scale back production plans. Exports, which account for a fifth of the economy or twice as much as in the U.S., were the main reason behind Europe's return to growth in the third quarter. ``European imports are increasing and exports tend to become more problematic through the weakening of the dollar,'' said Conrad Mattern, chief economist at Activest Investment in Munich, which manages about $50 billion. ``They simply need to discuss it on Monday even if they decide not to say much about it.'' With the export outlook clouded by the stronger currencies, Japan's and Europe's economies will probably expand just 1.8 percent this year, lagging the 4.2 percent growth in the U.S., the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects.