Friday, December 30, 2011

30/12/2011: Eurocoin December 2011: recession + inflation

Eurocoin - euro area's leading indicator of growth environment - posted another disappointing month in December. December reading came in at -0.20, same as November with 'stabilization' accounted for by improvement in surveys-based indicators for industrial and services firms, offset by material deterioration in actual demand indicators. Core Q4 2011 forecast for euro area growth now moved to -0.2, dangerously close to establishing a full-blown statistical contraction in the economy. More significantly, current growth and inflation conditions pairing pushed ECB policymaking into a proverbial straight jacket corner: rates consistent with inflation remain in the region of 3-times higher than current rate, while rates consistent with growth conditions are about right for the current 1.0% rate.

Charts below illustrate.





3mo MA for Eurocoin is now at -0.18, against 6mo MA of +0.03. YOY Eurocoin is down 141% and the indicator remains at the lowest level since August 2009. Annualized growth rate is forecast is running at -0.798% and 6mo MA annualized growth rate is running at +0.117% (also the worst performance since August 2009).



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