07/08/2011: Emergency G7 Summit - Policy Dilemma

My latest column in the Globe & Mail on the topic of G7 emergency summit: link here.

04/08/2011: Live Register for July 2011

Live Register data is out today for July.

Per CSO: "The standardised unemployment rate in July 2011 was 14.3%, up slightly from a rate of 14.2% in June. The monthly increase in the standardised unemployment rate was caused by an increase of 1,500 (+0.3%) in the seasonally adjusted number of persons signing on the Live Register. The latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from the QNHS was 14.0% in the first quarter of 2011."

Mapping this:
Again, quoting CSO: "Since May 2010 the seasonally adjusted Live Register total has remained within the range of 440,700 and 448,200, indicating that while there have been fluctuations, the overall trend in the Live Register has remained relatively flat over this period."
Of course, the statement above can be checked against a shorter-term horizon trend: year on year there has been an increase of 2,400 in seasonally adjusted LR or 0.54%. In June 2011 the same figure was 4,600 or +1.04%, suggesting that the July bounce up is rather shallow. 3mo moving average for current period is up 1.13% on previous period. This confirms CSO statement.

In July 2011 there were 470,284 people signing on the Live Register representing an increase of 3,460 (+0.7%) over the year. Adjusting for seasonality, total number of signees was 447,900 in July against 446,400 in June - a rise of 1,500 down from a previous monthly increase of 2,500.
Similarly in unadjusted terms, July increase was less than that recorded in June 2011 (+5,066 or +1.1%) and far less than the increase of 34,403 (+8.0%) seen in the year to July 2010.

CSO highlights that "On a seasonally adjusted basis there were monthly increases of 1,300 females and 300 males on the Live Register in July 2011. The number of female claimants increased by 6,150 (+3.7%), to 172,514 over the year while the number of male claimants decreased by 2,690 (-0.9%) to 297,770. This compares with increases of 15,280 (+10.1%) and 19,123 (+6.8%) for females and males respectively in the year to July 2010." Again, the trend is relatively clear here with later stages of unemployment driving up female signings to LR, while emigration is most likely driving male exists in the early stages of the process.

Another structural problem we face is that of long-term unemployment: "The number of long term claimants increased by 45,508 in the year to July 2011, bringing to 40.4% the proportion of claimants that have now been on the Live Register for one year or more. In July 2010 long term claimants made up 31.0% of the total Live Register."

The quality of employment is not improving either. "There were 85,865 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in July, which represents 18.3% of the total Live Register. This compares with 16.9% one year earlier when there were 79,072 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register. In the year to July 2011 the number of casual and part-time workers increased by 6,793 (+8.6%), with the number of males increasing by 4,015 (+9.6%) and the
number of females increasing by 2,778 (+7.4%)."

• There were no notable changes in July patterns in terms of LR signees under- and over-25 years of age. Year on year, numbers of LR signees 25 years and older increased by 7,500 or 2.09%, while number of signees under 25 years of age has declined 5,100 or -5.86%.
• Numbers of casual and part-time workers rose seasonally adjusted 6,793 year on year in July (up 8.59%)
  

Per CSO analysis: "In July Irish nationals accounted for 83.1% (390,999) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 79,285 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group
on the Live Register continued to be nationals from the EU15 to EU27 States (41,732), followed by the UK (19,006). In the year to July 2011 the number of Irish nationals on the Live Register increased by 3,387 (+0.9%), while the number of non-Irish nationals increased by 73 (+0.1%)."

04/08/2011: PMIs, Exports-led Recovery and Jobs - July 2011 data

Based on Manufacturing PMI (see detailed post here) and Services PMI (details here), let's chart Irish economy's progress on the road to the recovery.

First, consider the issues of employment and core PMIs:
So in terms of economic activity, we have moved:

• In Manufacturing from the recovery with mild jobs creation in January 2011 to both employment and output contractions in July 2011.
• In Services, a jobless recovery in January 2011 remains such in July with July reading showing accelerated joblessness and slower growth in output.

Summary of employment indices is extremely worrying at this stage:
Now, in terms of exports-led growth:
While exports performance continues to the upside in both Services and Manufacturing, in both sectors, exports growth is associated with declining employment, not rising. This is now an established trend with both June and July showing jobs declines amidst exports growth in both sectors, in contrast with May, when exports growth in both sectors supported fragile jobs creation.

So far, since January 2008, there were:

• 17 months of jobs-destruction associated exports increases in Services, against just 6 months where jobs creation was associated with exports growth
• 20 months of jobs destruction during coincident exports expansions in Manufacturing, against just one month when jobs creation underpinned exports growth.

Good luck to ya all who hope for an exports-led recovery to yield significant reductions in unemployment any time soon.

04/08/2011: Services PMI for Ireland - July 2011

NCB Economics released Services sector PMI for Ireland for July. I posted on latest data for Manufacturing PMI yesterday (here).

Unlike Manufacturing PMI, Services sector data points to continued expansion, albeit at a slower pace. Headline numbers are:

• Overall Services sector business activity stood at 51.7 (above 50, but not statistically significantly) in July, down from 52.4 in June. Year-to-date average is now at 52.1, against YTD 2010 average of 51.0 and well ahead of YTD average for 2009 of 36.8. 3mo average through July 2011 is 51.5, below 3mo average through April 2011 of 52.1. Hence, overall, disappointing result, but still remaining in the expansionary territory consistently since December 2010.
  
• New Business sub-index in July fell marginally to 49.2 from 49.4 in June, marking third consecutive month of below 50 readings. YTD 2011 average is now at 50.0 and marginally below 50.2 reading for January-July 2010, but well ahead of the abysmal 36.2 reading for the January-July 2009 average. 3mo average through July, however is firmly in the contraction zone at 48.9 against 3mo average through April at 51.9.

A more recent snapshot of data:
Other sub-indices also showed renewed weaknesses:

• Backlogs of work posted a sharp monthly decline from 44.5 in June to 43.9 in July, suggesting severe weaknesses in the short-term pipeline. The sub-index is now in the contraction territory for every month since July 2007.
• New export business crossed over into contraction territory for the first time since December 2010, with July reading of 49.6 from June reading of 53.1. Year-to-date average for 2011 is now at 53.7, dangerously close to 53.6 reading in the same period of 2010. Most recent 3-mo average is at 52.4, down from previous 3mo average of 54.6.
• Business expectations reading was the only one that posted positive change, rising from 60.3 in June to 62 in July - a high and strong reading for the indicator. However, 3mo average through July 2011 - at 61.5 - is still below 3mo reading through April 2011 (66.5).

On profitability side:

• Output prices signaled continued and deepening deflation at 42.3 in July from 43.5 in June, marking 4th consecutive month of dropping output prices.
• Input prices also eased in index reading, but remain at inflationary levels, with July reading of 50.6 down from June 51.8.
• So prices wedge acted to reduce further profit margins. Profitability sub-index of PMI has moved to 44.9 in July, marginally better than June 44.8, but still deeply below 50.
  

Derived index of profit margins in Manufacturing and Services - computed by me, based on NCB data - now show a slowdown in the rate of profit margins depletion in Manufacturing, but widening in Services:

• Profit margins index in Manufacturing in July stood at -15.01, down from -16.22 in June and well below 12 months average, the 3mo average and comparable readings for 2010.
• Profit margins index in Services had reached deeper into contraction territory with -16.40 reading in July against -16.02 reading in June. The 12mo average stands at -14.6.

So just as in the case of Manufacturing, Services PMI signals disappointing results for July 2011 and weak signals for forthcoming months.

04/08/2011: Safe Haven within a small open economy

Some interesting news flow on the Swiss Franc side today with the Swiss National Bank announcing that it will intervene in the markets across not just one instrument, but three, simultaneously. CHF had seen dramatic appreciation against the Euro and the USD in recent months (see charts below), with current valuations of CHF, according to SNB: "threatening the development of the economy and increasing the downside risks to price stability in Switzerland."

In line with this, SNB announced that it will (1) move target 3-mo Libor rates closer to the range of between 0% and 0.25%, down from the current range of 0% to 0.75%, (2) will "very significantly increase" the supply of CHF, and (3) will hike required deposits for Swiss banks from CHF30 billion to CHF80 billion.

Funny thing, folks, shortly after the announcement, CHF fell against the Euro by 1.8% to CHF1.1061/Euro, and against the dollar +1.4% to CHF0.7761/USD. Yet, with the latest rumors from the US - about QE3 - the USD promptly fell back against the CHF to 0.7701/USD and erased most of the euro gains to CHF1.1054/Euro.

The problem, of course, is that for all the firepower deployed, SNB has little power to shift the prevalent investor sentiment that, at the time of expected QE3 and continued uncertainty about the Euro area sovereigns, CHF - alongside other small currencies - represents, in the minds of investors, a safe haven. This, of course, is the dilemma of the Swiss franc - a safe haven within an small and open economy: too well-run to join the basket cases across its borders, too small to defend...

And so to end with some good background on what's going on with CHF recently - read this.

03/08/2011: US ISM & Irish PMIs (Manufacturing)

On August 1, US Institute of Supply management monthly manufacturing activity index for July posted the worst performance since July 2009, falling 4.4 points to 50.9 (barely above 50 mark of zero growth). The new orders sub-index dropped into contractionary territory and employment index suffered significant drop. Factory gate prices also contracted signaling a decline in profit margins going forward.

Meanwhile, Irish manufacturing PMIs (published by NCB) for July similarly came in with disappointment. Here are the updated numbers:

• Overall Manufacturing sector PMI declined to 48.2 in July (below 50, signaling contraction of activity), down from 49.8 in June and marking the second consecutive month of contracting sector activity.
• 12-mo average for PMI is now at 52.3, while 3mo average is at 49.9 against previous 3mo average of 56.1.
• In 3-mo to July 2010 PMI stood at 56.1.
• The July reading is the worst since January 2010

• On seasonally adjusted basis, output sub-index also posted second consecutive month of contracting activity with July reading of 49.8, slightly up on June 49.3
• New orders activity was also contracting at 47.9 in July, down from also contractionary 48.7 in June. New orders 12-mo average is now at 53.1 and 3 mo average at 49.8, while previous 3 months average was 58.1.
• New export orders activity continued to grow at a slowing pace, down to 51.3 in July from 51.5 in June and 58.7 in May. 3mo average through July now stands at 53.8 against 3mo average through April at 59.9.

Other sub-indicators:

• Backlogs of work contracted at faster pace of 41.1 in July down from 41.8 in June - the worst reading since August 2009. Sharp decrease in July was mainly reflective of a strong drop in new orders
• Stocks of purchases and suppliers delivery times were all signaling contracting activity
• Stocks of finished goods also signaled tighter manufacturing activity
• Per NCB note: "Attempts by firms to improve cash flow led to a marked reduction in stocks of purchases in July, with the rate of depletion the fastest since August 2010. Stocks of finished goods also fell, although the rate of decline was only slight. Post- production inventories have reduced in each month since May 2008."
  

On profit margins side:

• Again per NCB note: Increased oil and commodity prices led to a further rise in input prices. Despite easing for the fourth month running, the rate of cost inflation remained sharp, and faster than the long-run series average." Specifically: input prices sub-index stood at 59.3 in July, down from 63.5 in June. 3mo average through July now stands at 63.9, while 3mo average through April was 75.1 - an improvement in the rate of inputs costs growth, but these continue on the upward trajectory.
• As NCB note: "In response to higher input prices, manufacturers raised their output charges. However, strong competition and weakening demand meant that the rate of inflation was only slight." Again, output prices sub-index fell to 50.4 in July, from 53.2 in June and 12mo average now stands at 52.8, while 3 mo average is at virtually identical 52.6. This is down from the previous 3moo period (through April 2011) which was 57.4.
• So profit margins are continuing to deteriorate (second chart below).
  

Per chart above last, employment conditions continued to deteriorate in Manufacturing, with sub-index for employment moderating contractionary signal to 49.1 in July from 48.3 in June. This marked third consecutive month of employment sub-index below 50. While 12mo average stands at 50.2, 3mo average through July is now at 49.1, contrasted robustly by 3mo average through April 2011 at 54.0. Same period (3mo through July) of 2010 averaged 49.5 reading.

This, of course is disheartening. The chart below updates the pace of 'recovery' in Manufacturing for July data:

Please note: data is sourced from NCB publication, while all charts and statistical details as well as analysis are supplied by me.