The euro zone manufacturing sector contracted faster than previously thought last month, despite factories cutting prices, as core countries failed to provide any support, a survey showed on Monday. The downturn that began in the smaller periphery members of the 17-nation bloc is now sweeping through Germany and France and the situation remained dire in [...]

Japan’s exports slumped the most in six months in July as shipments to Europe and China tumbled. The 8.1 percent annual fall was far deeper than economists’ median forecast of a 2.9 percent drop. A 25.1 percent plunge in exports to the struggling European Union, the biggest such drop since Oct 2009, saw Japan post [...]

UK unemployment data was better than expected with the unemployment rate falling to 8%.  The level of employment has also been rising fast and as this chart shows runs counter to the GDP data which has the UK in recession. Refresh or edit chart The NY Fed Empire manufacturing survey was weaker than expected, showing factory [...]

Japan’s economy expanded just 0.3 percent in April-June, half the pace expected, raising doubts about the strength of the recovery as a rebound in consumer spending loses momentum and Europe’s debt crisis weighs on worldwide demand. Looking at the Markit survey of purchasing managers, suggest weak growth will continue into Q3. Refresh chart  Edit chart Slow [...]

China’s July exports grew just 1% from a year earlier, missing forecasts (+8.6%) by a big margin. Reuters story Refresh data  Edit data New banks loans from Chinese banks also fell short of expectations, extending 540.1 billion yuan of new local-currency loans in July. Refresh chart   Edit chart          

Citigroup’s index of economic surprise in the U.S. has started to turn upwards. The index tracks economic data releases and measure the amount that activity surprised or disappointed relative to economists expectations. The chart below shows the index tends to lead moves in equity analyst’s earnings expectations, so could we be in some earnings upgrades [...]

U.S. single-family home prices rose for the fourth month in a row in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, suggesting a recovery in the housing market continued to gain traction. The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.9 percent in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, topping economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent gain. [...]

While the outcome of the euro zone crisis seems almost impossible to predict, this level of uncertainty is yet to show up in analyst earnings estimates in the region. As this chart shows, in times of high market volatility the dispersion of analyst estimates (the level of disagreement) tends to go up. However looking at [...]

Europe needs more than patchwork solutions to a systemic crisis; developing real solutions to the eurozone’s woes will be politically tricky, but the success of leaders in this endeavor will shape the direction of financial markets and the future of the eurozone. The drama surrounding the Greek election is over, and the victors have managed [...]

STARMINE SPECIAL REPORT: A comprehensive analysis of how the SmartEstimate® helps the buyside anticipate companies likely to beat, meet and miss expectations. How did the SmartEstimate perform in predicting future revisions for Japanese companies in the months following the earthquake and tsunami. By using a system that removes state data and places more weight on [...]