'Delicate Moment' for Global Economy as Manufacturing Slows

Add a manufacturing slowdown to the growing risks facing the world economy.

High input prices, supply chain disruptions from the tsunami disaster in Japan and slowing demand from China have combined to brake manufacturing momentum in Europe, the United States and Asia in recent months following a steady run of robust growth.

Just how sharp the slowdown is will become clearer this week with the release of data from factory purchasing managers in major economies across the globe.

In the euro zone, where divergence between core and peripheral countries has been the story for months, signs of more broad-based trouble emerged last week.

A preliminary manufacturing index for May posted its biggest one-month fall since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

"This is a delicate moment for the global economy, and the crisis is not over until our economies are creating enough jobs again," said Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"There is also some concern that if downside risks reinforce each other, their cumulative impact could weaken the recovery significantly, possibly triggering stagflation in some advanced economies."

In Europe, the focus remains on Greece's woes after Prime Minister George Papandreou's government failed to forge a consensus on austerity measures with opposition parties.

European governments are reluctant to pledge additional aid to Greece without broader political backing for reforms, which include aggressive privatisations to meet fiscal targets set in the EU/IMF bailout Athens secured one year ago.

Without more European money, the IMF has said it will not release its portion of a June aid tranche that Greece desperately needs to avoid a debt default.

"The stand-off highlights once again the continued lack of a cohesive policy response to the region's crisis," Capital Economics said in a research note.

"Meanwhile, the latest batch of euro-zone business surveys brought the strongest signs yet that growth in the core economies may be starting to slow.

With the periphery still struggling, the second half of 2011 could prove pretty tough for the region as a whole."

www.cnbc.com...

Okay just bring on the collapse already. All the BS bailouts and quantitative easing have accomplished very little in the way of real economic growth. I think Greece is circling the toilet bowl at the moment...


Greece Set for Severe Bail-Out Conditions

www.cnbc.com...

Elsewhere in the Eurozone we read.......

Ireland May Need Another Loan From EU/IMF: Official

Ireland may have to ask for another loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund because it will struggle to return to debt markets to raise funds next year, a government minister said on Sunday.

www.cnbc.com...

Interesting blog on the US economy...

US economy: A downhill trip

The economy of the United States (US) is in dire straits. In June 2010, a well known financial sector analyst, and the woman who blew the doors open on the 2008 mortgage crisis, Meredith Whitney, forecasted that two million government employees would be laid off in the coming years because of fiscal problems. It is happening....

The real fun will begin when the rest of the world finally responds to America’s sovereign debt crisis by cutting off the international credit card, leading to the collapse of the largest credit bubble in the history of the world.

Read more here: blogs.tribune.com.pk...

Will be interesting to see how economic conditions are trending with the release of data this week.

reply to post by surrealist

Okay just bring on the collapse already.

I'm ready, are you?

It's only a matter of time at this point. It'll be interesting to see how the DOW fares come tuesday on news like this.

Thanks OP, just bookmarking.

Well its either gonna be E.U defaulting although ?germany can not allow Greece to fail, so cant see this happening even with Greeks 5y CDS going up like maddness.

USA their debt to GDP you can still pull yourselfs out, your a mammoth of a country.