Intanto gli indici Markit che monitorano il tasso di espansione - regresso del settore manufatturiero e di quello dei servizi in Europa segnalano che a febbraio si sarebbe avuta una nuova discesa a minimi storici...
Europe Services, Manufacturing Shrink at Record Pace (Update2)
By Jurjen van de Pol
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Europe’s
manufacturing and
service industries unexpectedly contracted at a record pace as consumers held back on spending and companies postponed investments in the face of the worst recession in more than six decades.
A
composite index of both industries fell to 36.2 in February, a record low, from 38.3 in January. The index is based on a survey of purchasing managers by
Markit Economics and a reading below 50 indicates contraction. Economists forecast an increase to 38.5, a
Bloomberg survey showed.
Producers are scaling back output and cutting jobs as the global financial turmoil pushes Europe into the deepest recession since World War II. Several European Central Bank policy makers including President
Jean-Claude Trichet have said the central bank may cut interest rates to a record low next month and could consider other measures to stimulate economic growth.
“The renewed downward lurch in both surveys to new record lows significantly undermines hopes that the rate of contraction in euro-zone economic activity could be bottoming out,” said
Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight in London.
The
manufacturing index declined to 33.6 from 34.4 in January, while the
services index decreased to 38.9 from 42.2, the lowest on record for both indicators, Markit said. Indexes for output, new orders and employment also dropped to all-time lows, it said.
First Recession
European governments committed more than 1.2 trillion euros ($1.5 trillion) to save their banking systems from collapse and pledged to spend a combined 200 billion euros to boost the economy, which is enduring the first recession in the euro’s 10- year history. The euro region will contract 1.9 percent this year, according to European Commission forecasts.
The head of the International Monetary Fund, which last month projected a 2 percent contraction in the euro region this year, said that forecast may need to be cut as the global economic slump deepens. “The information we’ve received since these forecasts are worse and worse,” IMF Managing Director
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said yesterday in Paris.
European stocks sank to the lowest level in almost six years on concerns the recession is deepening. The Dow Jones
Stoxx 600 Index was down 2.7 percent at 10 a.m. in London, after tumbling 3.1 percent earlier to 177.79, the lowest level since April 2003.
Declining Sale
MAN AG, Europe’s third-largest truckmaker, yesterday said it will cut costs further and extend reductions in working hours after
declining sales caused fourth-quarter profit to plunge by almost half.
Infineon Technologies AG Chief Executive Officer
Peter Bauer said on Feb. 12 that Europe’s second-largest maker of semiconductors faces a “difficult year” filled with “many tough challenges.”
The euro was lower and set for the biggest weekly decline in a month against the dollar on speculation that another interest- rate reduction may be in the works. The European currency was down 0.5 percent at $1.2615 at 9:10 a.m. in London.
The ECB has lowered its key rate by 2.25 percentage points since early October to 2 percent, the most aggressive easing since the bank took control of monetary policy a decade ago.
Economists expect the central bank to reduce the benchmark to a record low of 1.5 percent at its next meeting on March 5 to spur lending and boost the economy, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Trichet said today that the global credit crisis poses a “serious challenge” for policy makers around the globe. He said the ECB will provide banks with unlimited cash for as long as needed to help them through the turmoil.
ECB council member
Erkki Liikanen told Finnish newspapers in an interview published today that the central bank hasn’t used all the tools at its disposal to pull the economy out of the recession. “I’m convinced we haven’t exhausted our creativity and our capacity to take initiatives,” Liikanen said.
Segnalo che da inizio settima l'indice dei noli marittimi è in continua crescita ( la Cina sta dandoci dentro 
)
