Global Investing

The Bundesbank is preparing to stomach higher German inflation than it likes, above the European Central Bank’s target level, because of the euro zone crisis, a source at the central bank said on Thursday.

Although the Bundesbank still wants stable prices across the euro zone, its latest comments show the bank recognises that upward pressure on German wage costs and property prices suggest its inflation is likely to rise above the bloc’s average.

As this chart shows, historically the Bundesbank was quick to react to any signs of inflation:

The Bank of England voted on Thursday not to give the struggling economy another injection of cash as concerns over stubbornly high inflation outweighed the risk of a prolonged recession.

The number of Americans submitting new applications for jobless benefits edged down last week, easing concerns the labor market was deteriorating after April’s weak employment growth.

Euro zone factories sank further into decline last month but manufacturers in Asia upped their tempo to meet growing demand from the United States and China, exposing a widening gulf between Europe and the rest of the world.

Unemployment in the euro zone rose to a 15-year high of 10.9 percent in March – as this chart shows the level of youth unemployment paints a worrying picture:

U.S. private employers hired a far fewer than expected 119,000 people in April, the smallest gain since September 2011, a report showed on Wednesday, adding to concerns that the economy has lost some of its momentum. This chart shows the relationship between the first release of ADP figures and non-farm payrolls which are released on Friday.

The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter, slightly weaker than expected.  Consumer spending which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, increased at a 2.9 percent rate – contributing two percentage points to the overall growth rate.

Sell in May and go away? Here are the average numbers for the MSCI world equity index:

More awful economic numbers from the euro zone, Spanish unemployment hit 24.4% in Q1 2012 with youth unemployment rising to 52%.

U.S. consumer confidence came in slightly weaker than expected but the ‘jobs-hard-to-get’ index – historically a good lead indicator of the unemployment rate - fell to 37.5 in April.

Spanish equities in price terms are near their 2009 lows but valuations are still some way above:

Australian consumer prices rose by less than expected last quarter while key measures of underlying inflation showed the smallest rise in more than a decade, paving the way for a cut next week and suggesting further cuts were possible.

Spanish house prices fell 7.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier while Spanish banks’ bad loans rose to their highest level since October 1994 (see chart).

The Bank of England is poised to turn off its money-printing press next month. Minutes of the Bank’s April meeting, combined with a stark warning on inflation from deputy governor Paul Tucker on the same day, signalled a sharp change in tone that could bring forward expectations for interest rate rises.

Does the E in PE need a reality check too?

U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week to their highest level since January:

The unemployment rate in Greece rose to 28.1% in January.

Gold mining equities continue to underperform the metal:

ISM report on U.S. manufacturing shows PMI at 53.4 in March against 52.4 in February:

Euro zone unemployment rose to 10.8% in February, with youth unemployment in Spain reaching 50.5%

China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) hit an 11-month high with a stronger-than-expected reading but a separate private survey by HSBC, which focuses more on smaller factories than the large state-owned enterprises captured in the official data, painted a gloomier picture:

OECD growth forecasts released today show the euro zone countries lagging behind other G7 countries:

Reuters latest asset allocation polls showed global investors cut government debt from portfolios in March:

Germany’s unemployment rate fell to a record low of 6.7% in March, bucking the trend in other euro zone countries:

Is now the time to shift to equities vs. bonds? Goldman Sachs think so and traditional valuation measures such as the equity risk premium (chart) make bonds look expensive relative to equities when compared to the average over the last 20 years.

It isn’t surprising that the performance of equities relative to bonds tends to be closely correlated with economic activity. However as the chart below shows this does break down from time to time, equities are currently still trailing bonds over a 12-month period while an ISM above 50 suggests equities should be winning.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke poured some cold water on the recent improvement in the U.S. jobs market yesterday. Today’s consumer confidence numbers were mixed, the “jobs hard to get” index rose to 41.0 per cent from 38.6 per cent the month before, but the “jobs plentiful” index also rose to 9.4 per cent from 7 per cent

The pleasant surprise of Friday’s upbeat U.S. employment report rattled the U.S. Treasury bond market, as you’d expect, encouraging as it did some optimism about a sustained U.S. economic recovery, tempering fears of deflation and casting some doubts on the likelihood of another bout of quantitative easing or bond buying by the Federal Reserve.  And investors wary of seemingly teflon Treasuries are always keen to use such a backup in U.S. borrowing rates as a reason to rethink a market where supply is soaring and national debt levels are accelerating and where the country has just entered a presidential election year.

The release then by Eurostat on Monday of 2011 government debt  levels for the European Union and euro zone — where bond markets have been in chaos for the past couple of years — provided another reason to look sceptically at Treasuries as it showed aggregate EU and euro zone debt more than 10 percentage points of GDP lower than in the United States.

And with no fresh debt reduction plan likely this side of November’s presidential elections, the comparative U.S. debt trajectory over the coming years looks alarming.