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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 (5819)	1/22/2004 2:13:16 PM
From: Louis V. Lambrecht	Respond to of 110194

Mish, if they cut, write of the Euro. FWIW, Germany is still paying the "reunification" which costed one full year of GDP. They don't like the "Teuro", joke about "Teuer" = costly and Euro. Germans blame the Euro for their own budgetary sillyness (converted all East-Marks accounts and liabilities at par with the Deutshmark, although it was 5:1 on the grey market). France is an agricultural country: costs are mostly oil and BG derivates which are favourable in the context of UD based oil prices. France's has been worked into problems with their liberal president Mitterand sumptuous expenses (who Frenchman called "God" although he was represented on TV as Kermit the frog). They now are trying to reverse course. Europe is going to 25 members states and 480 million inhabitants this Summer: who needs exports to any other country? Rem: in 2005 North and South America will join in a huge "free" trade zone: who will still need "exports" there?

To: mishedlo who wrote (5819)	1/22/2004 2:22:51 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 110194

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- French consumer spending growth slowed in the fourth quarter and Italian households were more pessimistic this month than at any time in the past 10 years, signs that Europe's export-led recovery remains fragile. Spending by households in France, Europe's third-biggest economy, grew 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, half the pace of the previous three months, the statistics office said today. Italian consumer confidence plunged after the collapse of diary company Parmalat Finanziaria SpA, a separate report showed. ................ ``Self-sustaining domestic demand is proving to be an elusive animal'' as concerns about rising indirect taxes and state pensions also persist. In Germany, Europe's largest economy, retail sales fell for a second consecutive year in 2003, the Federal Statistics Office said today. Sales fell an inflation-adjusted 1 percent last year, led by a 2.1 percent drop in sales at non-food stores. quote.bloomberg.com