Italy’s businesses play it coy
Italian business confidence has taken a serous hit, falling to its lowest level in two years in April.According to the wires:The manufacturing-sentiment index dropped to 89.5...
The UK is back in recession
This cheery note is from the Office for National Statistics (our emphasis):GDP contracted by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, the second successive period of negative economic growth....
World Energy Consumption since 1820 in Charts
Figure 1 shows the huge increase in world energy consumption that has taken place in roughly the last 200 years. This rise in energy consumption is primarily from increased fossil fuel use.
Figure 1. World Energy Consumption by Source, Based on Vaclav...
Why High Oil Prices Are Now Affecting Europe More Than the US
The world is presently sharing a limited supply of oil. When oil prices rise, oil production doesn’t rise very much, if at all.
Figure 1. Brent oil spot price and world oil supply (broadly defined), based on EIA data.
The issues then become: Whi...
Why High Oil Prices Are Now Affecting Europe More Than the US
The world is presently sharing a limited supply of oil. When oil prices rise, oil production doesn’t rise very much, if at all.
Figure 1. Brent oil spot price and world oil supply (broadly defined), based on EIA data.
The issues then become: Whi...
Why High Oil Prices Are Now Affecting Europe More Than the US
The world is presently sharing a limited supply of oil. When oil prices rise, oil production doesn’t rise very much, if at all.
Figure 1. Brent oil spot price and world oil supply (broadly defined), based on EIA data.
The issues then become: Whi...
That Portugal enigma, demystified
Citi analysts have attempted to explain the Portugal enigma, which they note now has the country’s 10-year bonds trading at some 1,000 basis points above Bunds.The reason,...
A beef quiz, and revisited Koo
“Like a Hitchcock film. You did not need to see the blood and gore and violence – the hint of it and the menace that pervaded the office was worse.” - Theo Zemek cheerily describes the atmosphere at New Star...
2012 – the year of the double dip
Festive cheer seems to be in short supply at Capital Economics:– We don’t have high hopes for 2012. In fact, we continue to think that the UK will re-enter recession....
Deutsche’s Reid on shorter business cycles
It must be nearly Christmas, for the last Deutsche Bank Early Morning Reid of 2011 was today.Luckily, strategist Jim Reid and his team left us with a note on their thoughts for...
Not even in Japan…
Whatever is decided at the Save the Euro summit, it seems certain the eurozone is heading into recession.But not just any recession, this will be a protracted one reckons Citigroup....
Countdown to $100 Oil – High Energy Prices Suppressing Growth?
This is the fifth post in the series following the oil price, markets and general health of the global economy, examining the simple theory that OECD recession may result from annual average oil price exceeding $100 / bbl.
The annual average price (AAP...
