Global Manufacturing Steadies as She Goes, or Does She?

The year got off on a much better foot than might have been expected, at least as far as global manufacturing is concerned. So the fall in global manufacturing has flattened out, even though the bounce back has more of a dead cat look about it than anything else. As usual in recent months the report was very much a mixed bag

Short Note on ISM Manufacturing Survey

The Institute for Supply Management reports its January manufacturing survey on February 1. The Bloomberg consensus expects a small increase to 54.5 from

Fear Factory: Jon Stewart on Foxconn

This is grim. Bill Black has the analysis; he thinks this is a criminogenic environment of control frauds

Anti-employee Control Fraud

Apple has released a report on working conditions in its suppliers’ factories. It highlights a form of control fraud that criminology has identified but rarely discussed. I write overwhelmingly about accounting control fraud because it drives our recurrent, intensifying financial crises. The primary intended victims of accounting control frauds are the shareholders and the creditors. Other private sector control frauds target customers (e.g., George Akerlof’s 1970 article on “lemons”), and the public (e.g., the unlawful disposal of toxic waste, illegal logging, and tax fraud)

Chart of the Day: International Manufacturing Compensation Costs Compared

Great data from the BLS comparing hourly compensation for manufacturing. The second chart looks at the benefits component of the hourly cost

China: Lots of news, signifying nothing new

I don’t think there is a whole lot to say about this week’s numbers beyond what I have been saying for the past several months. Nothing substantial has really changed. China’s external account is worsening, and will continue to worsen since global imbalances have no choice but to adjust. Growth in China is slowing but remains relatively rapid, and as unhealthy as ever, but there is little likely to be done to improve the quality of growth until 2013. Beijing will continue veering back and forth between stomping on the credit accelerator and stomping on the credit brakes as the only way they can manage the economy

Dollar Firm As Italy Yields Rise, Euro Zone IP Falls

The dollar is broadly firmer as Italian yields rise at 5-year bond auction, euro zone IP falls.Swiss data weak ahead of SNB meeting tomorrow; Norges Bank seen cutting rates 25 bp. China data gives cover for more PBOC easing; RBA suggests AUD weakness will help cushion economy

News Links: European and Chinese Manufacturing Stalls, as US Advances

ISM – ISM Report – November 2011 Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® "The PMI registered 52.7 percent, an increase of 1.9 percentage points from October’s reading of 50.8 percent, indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector for the 28th consecutive month. The New Orders Index increased 4.3 percentage points from October to 56.7 percent, reflecting the

Charts of the day: Understanding the latest economic data out of China

The weak November HSBC PMI for China has added to market bearishness. This is not the official PMI but we do note that while the HSBC measure has been below 50 for 4 of the 5 past months, the official PMI has yet to fall below 50, but it was reported at 50.4 in October, the lowest since February 2009. A further drop in the official PMI below 50 seems hard to avoid. Slowing in the Chinese economy is inevitable given the deteriorating external environment as well as PBOC tightening measures taken in 2010-

Foreign News: Commerzbank capital, Portuguese bailout, Franco-Belgian problems

Here is the second version of this foreign news links post that I am starting. The feedback yesterday was good. You all said it makes sense to see what the press in country are saying in Europe since that is the locus of the sovereign debt crisis, so I will continue this

India getting hit by European slowdown

Over the past couple of days I have noticed a lot of posts on the FT’s emerging markets blog about a growth slowdown in India that is occurring as a direct result of the worsening outlook in Europe

Thai Floods and Yen Appreciation

Given the poor track record of intervention, unilateral or multilateral, sterilized or unsterilized, there may be no compelling need to understand why the $100 bln intervention is not sticking. All sorts of possible explanations seem partly at play. Intervention has not been repeated. The failure to push the greenback above JPY80 lent bullish yen safe haven views intact. Spot intervention is less effective than repeated operations in the swaps and options market too, as the SNB is thought to have done.

In any event, another force may be at work and that is the floods in Thailand. They have hit the Japanese auto sector hard as Thailand is an important production base. Other industries have also been hit as reports by Hitachi and Canon indicate