Deutsches Kanzleramt rechnet zeitnah mit Rezession

Die schwache Industriekonjunktur dürfte „weiter anhalten“. Das geht aus einer Vorlage des Kanzleramts hervor, aus der der „Spiegel“ am Freitag zitierte

23. August 2019, 18:00 derstandard.at

Die Experten von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) rechnen für die Zeit von Juli bis Oktober mit einem ähnlichen Rückgang wie im Quartal zuvor.

Berlin – Das deutsche Bundeskanzleramt rechnet zeitnah mit einer Rezession. „Für das dritte Quartal zeichnet sich abermals ein leichter Rückgang des Bruttoinlandsprodukts und damit eine technische Rezession ab“, zitiert „Der Spiegel“ aus einer Vorlage des Kanzleramts. Im zweiten Quartal war die Wirtschaftsleistung bereits um 0,1 Prozent gegenüber dem Vorquartal geschrumpft.

Die Experten von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) rechnen nun für die Zeit von Juli bis Oktober mit einem ähnlichen Rückgang. So hatte sich Anfang der Woche auch die Bundesbank geäußert: „Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Leistung könnte erneut leicht zurückgehen“, hieß es. Ausschlaggebend dafür ist demnach der „anhaltende Abschwung in der Industrie“.

Germany for First Time Sells 30-Year Bonds Offering Negative Yields

Date: 21-08-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Bond sale adds to the roughly $15 trillion of negative-yielding bonds outstanding world-wide

Germany sold 30-year bonds at a negative yield for the first time, in another sign of how investors’ desperation for safe assets is inflating their value.

The bond, set to mature in August 2050, has a zero coupon, which means it pays no interest at all. Yet investors were still willing to pay more than face value to buy €824 million ($914 million) worth of the debt, pushing the overall yield on the bond into negative territory, at minus 0.11%. Yields fall as bond prices rise.

The German sale adds to the roughly $15 trillion of negative-yielding bonds outstanding world-wide, many of which are from European governments or are state-sponsored agency bonds. It also adds to the smaller—but still significant—amount of new bonds that have been sold with a negative yield at issue.

More than $3 trillion of bonds have offered a negative yield when they were first sold since 2016, according to data from Barclays. While this is mostly government and agency debt, it also includes more than $11 billion of corporate debt, from companies such as French drugmaker Sanofi SA and German consumer-goods company Henkel AG.

The list of such bonds has even included euro-denominated debt from U.S. tobacco group Philip Morris International Inc., which sold €500 million of seven-year bonds at a yield of minus 0.18% at the end of July, according to Barclays data.

In the latest sale, Germany sold the bonds at an average price of 103.61. That means the government will pay back €795 million in 30 years’ time for the €824 million it has borrowed.

The last time Germany sold similarly long bonds was last month, when it tapped its outstanding August 2048 issue again, and investors bought the debt at a yield of 0.3%. The first sale of these bonds, in September 2017, achieved a yield of 1.3%.

The Old World and the Middle Kingdom

Date: 20-08-2019
Source: Foreign Affairs By Julianne Smith And Torrey Taussig

Europe Wakes Up to China’s Rise

Europe is beginning to face up to the challenges posed by a rising China. From the political debates roiling European capitals over the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei’s involvement in building 5G mobile networks to the tense EU-China summit earlier this year, recent events have shown that European leaders are growing uneasy in a relationship that until recently both sides saw as immensely beneficial. They worry about the political influence China has gained, especially over the EU’s smaller members, and its growing economic clout and technological prowess. They are starting, tentatively, to push back.

To better promote its interests, Europe should use its economic, political, and diplomatic power to level the economic playing field with China, guard against Chinese political influence, and defend democratic values at home. Yet two things stand in the way of such a strategy. First, Europe remains divided over how seriously to take the Chinese challenge. In contrast to the strategic shifts happening in Berlin, Paris, and the EU capital, in Brussels, the leaders of many smaller states still see only the economic benefits of deeper engagement with China. Second, Europe finds itself caught in the middle of a growing U.S.-Chinese rivalry. It cannot abandon its long-standing ties to the United States (even as it squabbles with the Trump administration over everything from tariffs to defense spending), but it also cannot afford to weaken a trade relationship with China worth well over $1 billion a day. Europe is walking a fine line by nominally resisting China’s predatory trade and investment practices but not issuing any meaningful threats. So far, playing it safe has failed to persuade China to change course. 

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Germany?

Date: 20-08-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal By The Editorial Board

Berlin prepares to cave to the Keynesians but could do so much better.

Olaf Scholz is the new favorite politician of global investors. The German Finance Minister said Sunday he might possibly, though very cautiously, cobble together a Keynesian stimulus package for his recession-menaced country. Markets soared Monday.

The global hunt for good news is understandable, though Mr. Scholz didn’t say what people seem to think he did. Rather than outright promising a €50 billion stimulus package, he said only that Berlin “can muster” that sum if necessary to “counter a crisis with full force.” Chancellor Angela Merkel —whose center-right Christian Democrats rule in an awkward coalition with Mr. Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats—has said she might allow some deficit spending in a downturn. But the final amount could be less than Mr. Scholz hints.

The bigger problem is that a Keynesian spending splurge is what everyone now thinks will make or break the eurozone’s largest economy. Berlin invites this stimulus pressure as the only large eurozone government responsible enough to live within its means. A balanced budget and government debt below 60% of GDP encourage the International Monetary Fund and investment banks to call for Berlin to “use” its fiscal headroom to avert a recession.

The End of “Peak Germany” and the Return of France

Aug 16, 2019 Jacek Rostowski , Arnab Das

Arnab Das is Global Market Strategist at a London-based asset management firm.

Jacek Rostowski was Poland’s Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister from 2007 to 2013.Europe works best, as the old quip has it, with the Russians out, the Germans down, and the Americans in. Today’s new European order has the Russians up, the Germans on the way down, the Americans potentially bowing out, Britons struggling toward Brexit – and France rising.

LONDON – At first blush, the result of the European Parliament election in May, and the subsequent nomination of the European Union’s new leadership team, augur continuity and not disruption for the bloc. Nationalist parties failed to make any significant gains in the election, and then large Western European status quo powers hand-picked federalists for the top EU jobs. In particular, the choice of Ursula von der Leyen to be the next president of the European Commission – making her the first German to hold the post in a half-century – seemed to confirm Germany’s continued dominance in Europe.

Yet undercurrents frequently diverge from the surface flow. History suggests that hegemons often assume formal leadership as their power wanes, not when it is strengthening. Today, several factors threaten Germany’s status as the EU top dog – and France stands to be the main beneficiary.Until now, German dominance has rested on two main pillars: seemingly permanent American defense guarantees, and the country’s world-leading manufacturing firms and massive net-creditor position.

Rise of Electric Cars Threatens to Drain German Growth

Date: 16-08-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Industry executives worry that a transition away from fuel-powered vehicles threatens jobs, tax revenue

Workers assemble sports cars at a Porsche factory in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany.

STUTTGART, Germany—Concern is rising in Europe’s automobile heartland about the economic impact of the industry’s move to electric vehicles from gasoline-powered cars.

Officials and executives in Germany fear the country’s big car companies and rich ecosystem of suppliers and service providers are insufficiently prepared for the transition, and that their leadership may not be assured in an electric-car world, threatening jobs, tax revenue and even growth.

Assembling electric cars isn’t as complex or labor intensive as making traditional vehicles and relies partly on imported technology. At the same time, China has made rapid forays in electrification and is shaping up as a potentially formidable competitor in the field.

Warning Signs Point to a Global Slowdown

Date: 15-08-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Weakness in Germany, China, puts pressure on record U.S. expansion as recession risks rise; U.S. stocks tumble

Warning signs pointing to a deepening global economic slowdown—and the risk of recession—are flashing more brightly.

Many of the biggest troubles are showing up overseas. But stock and bond markets are signaling that the threat of a downturn is spreading to the U.S., the world’s largest economy, now in its longest expansion on record.

Economic output in Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy, contracted in the second quarter, according to a report Wednesday, while a report on factory output in China, the second-largest economy, came in lower than expected.

“It’s almost like we’re starting to see a textbook version of a pre-recessionary period,” Nicholas Akins, chief executive of Ohio-based American Electric Power Co. , said in an interview Wednesday. The company provides electricity to industrial, commercial and residential customers in 11 states.

German Economy Contracts as Global Trade Battle Bites

Date: 14-08-2019
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Decline in GDP indicates that Europe’s largest economy has now become a drag on the region

Germany’s economy shrank slightly in the second quarter, rekindling fears of a recession and underscoring how Europe’s industrial core is suffering from the uncertainty caused by the U.S.-China trade dispute.

Economists and the government have cited the tensions between Beijing and Washington and the possibility of Britain leaving the European Union without a negotiated settlement as the main reasons for the cooling of Germany’s export-driven economy.

Analysts said the downturn should be a wake-up call for European policy makers to consider measures to stimulate activity in the region. Berlin, which has generated a budget surplus for the past five years, has been under pressure for months to loosen its strict fiscal policy to energize demand at home and in neighboring countries. The government has resisted any bold move so far, though is planning modest tax cuts and is working on its version of the Green New Deal, to be unveiled this fall.

Deutschlands Digitale Rezession

Sollte es wirklich eine Rezession geben, wird die deutsche Wirtschaft zwar schnell Donald Trump als Schuldigen identifizieren. Aber die eigenen Versäumnisse wird sie ausblenden wie bisher.

https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/rezession-droht-deutschland-ohne-digitale-innovation-sascha-lobo-kolumne-a-1281847.html

Die Verantwortung dafür tragen die seit gefühlt 62 Jahren herrschenden Regierungen Merkel, die – ganz genauso wie die deutschen Unternehmen – noch stets andere Prioritäten hatten als offensive, zukunftsgewandte Investition.

Systematische Fehlentwicklungen haben einen riesigen Investitionsstau in Deutschlands Städten und Gemeinden anschwellen lassen. Um das Problem zu lösen, reicht selbst ein einmaliges Sonderprogramm nicht mehr aus. Vielmehr müssen strukturschwache Kommunen langfristig und generell finanziell ertüchtigt werden – doch einer solchen Lösung steht die Schuldenbremse im Weg. Ein Beitrag von Jens Südekum.

„Bitte sofort anschnallen“: Der globale Abschwung erreicht das Finanzsystem

Dank an H.G.! 

Michael Bernegger | Veröffentlicht: 12.08.19 18:46 Uhr, dwn

Zwischen der schwächelnden Weltwirtschaft und den Finanzmärkten haben sich extreme Ungleichgewichte aufgebaut.

Die Spannung wird sich in naher Zukunft in einem gewalttätigen Sturm entladen – mit verheerenden Folgen für Staaten, Unternehmen und Bürger, schreibt Michael Bernegger.

Für die Weltwirtschaft – Deutschland und Europa im Besonderen – braut sich ein heftiger Sturm zusammen. Bis jetzt waren Vorboten in Form von
Unternehmensbefragungen vor allem in der verarbeitenden Industrie sichtbar – Einkaufs-Manager- (PMI-) Indizes, IFO-Test für Deutschland. Doch die
Finanzmärkte signalisierten ein anderes Bild: Risikoindikatoren Fehlanzeige, Aktienmärkte an den oder nahe den Höchstständen, Kreditflut etc. Diese
Dichotomie dürfte sich allmählich auflösen. Die Auslöser sind: Verschärfung des Handelskrieges und der nahende Brexit.

Die Weltwirtschaft bot in den letzten Monaten das Bild einer gespaltenen Konjunktur. Praktisch weltweit verschlechterten sich die Indikatoren für die verarbeitende Industrie, wenn auch ungleich im Ausmaß. Am härtesten erwischte es die Eurozone und darin ausgerechnet Deutschland, letzteres aufgrund des Gewichts der Autoindustrie sowie der Exporte. Relativ gesehen noch gut schneiden die Vereinigten Staaten ab, wo die Vorlaufindikatoren immer noch leichte Expansion anzeigen. Global gesehen stand der Kontraktion oder zumindest Stagnation in der verarbeitenden Industrie ein weiterhin expandierender Dienstleistungssektor gegenüber. Nachfrageseitig wirkten vor allem der private und öffentliche Konsum konjunkturstützend, während die Investitionen auf erhöhtem Niveau stagnierten oder bereits abzubröckeln begannen.