USA: Michigan consumer climate improves significantly
MICHIGAN – US consumer sentiment improved significantly in July. The consumer climate surveyed by the University of Michigan rose from 64.4 points in the previous month to 72.6 points, as the university announced on Friday after a first round of surveys. Analysts had expected an average of just 65.5 points. Both consumer expectations and the assessment of the current situation improved.
USA: Import prices fall again significantly
WASHINGTON – The prices of goods imported into the United States fell significantly again in June. Import prices fell 6.1 percent year-on-year, the Labor Department said in Washington on Friday. This is the sharpest decline in over three years. Compared to the previous month, import prices fell by 0.2 percent – and thus a little more than expected.
ROUNDUP 3: Climate activists are disrupting traffic nationwide – also two injured
BERLIN – Climate activists of the last generation have blocked traffic in several German cities at important points. In cities like Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and Braunschweig, protesters glued themselves to the road on Friday – some wore masks showing Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). They held up banners that read, “We’re breaking the law.”
ROUNDUP 2: No all-clear for heat in Southern Europe
ATHENS – In most regions of central and southern Greece and on the holiday island of Cyprus, the thermometers showed more than 40 degrees on Friday. There is no relief in sight in Italy either – next week it is expected to be even hotter than before. The heat wave is expected to last throughout southern and south-eastern Europe over the coming days with minor fluctuations. According to Greek meteorologists, it could even last until the end of next week. The authorities have already taken action.
Heat wave in the southern United States – around 93 million people affected
WASHINGTON – The southern United States is groaning under extreme heat. At least 93 million people in the country are warned of excessive heat, the US weather service said on Friday. “This is the result of a high pressure ridge over the US Southwest that will intensify over the weekend,” it said. Record temperatures are expected.
OVERALL ROUNDUP/cluster munitions in Ukraine: Scholz defends US decision
KIEV/MOSCOW/BERLIN – After the arrival of cluster munitions from the USA in Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has again defended Washington’s decision to deliver them. On Friday, however, he also stressed the importance of the treaty banning this type of ammunition, which Germany, unlike the United States and Ukraine, signed. The Ukrainian Brigadier General Olexander Tarnawskyj had previously confirmed to the US broadcaster CNN that US cluster munitions have now arrived in Ukraine.
ROUNDUP/Germany’s China strategy: Praise and criticism from Southeast Asia
BERLIN – Germany’s new China strategy has been received in Southeast Asia with praise and hope on the one hand and harsh criticism on the other. Taiwan welcomed the realignment on Friday as a further step towards strengthening a “rules-based international security order”. China’s Foreign Ministry described the document as “counterproductive”. Meanwhile, in his summer press conference, Chancellor Olaf Scholz tried to allay fears in German business about excessive state control. The SPD politician said in Berlin on Friday that it is not a question of subjecting all investments made abroad to state control.
ROUNDUP: Ukraine and Russia report new drone strikes
KIEV/VORONESH – The warring parties Ukraine and Russia have reported new drone attacks on their territory. In the city of Kryvyi Rih, the birthplace of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a drone destroyed an administrative building and damaged other buildings of a municipal enterprise, the military governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said on Friday. He also published pictures of the damage on his Telegram channel. A man was injured. Two houses were also damaged. There were a total of six drone attacks and artillery fire, it said.
New elections in the Netherlands on November 22nd
THE HAGUE – After the collapse of the government, a new parliament is to be elected in the Netherlands on November 22nd. The cabinet decided on Friday, said Interior Minister Hanke Bruins Slot in The Hague. The four-party coalition broke up a week ago in a dispute over migration policy. As a result, the right-liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who had been Prime Minister of the Netherlands for almost 13 years, surprisingly announced his retirement from politics. However, he intends to remain in office until a new government takes office.
Bundesbank: Consumers expect significantly lower inflation
FRANKFURT – The inflation expectations of consumers in Germany fell again significantly in June. The inflation rate expected over a twelve-month horizon fell from 5.3 to 4.8 percent, according to Bundesbank data on Friday. It is the eighth consecutive decline. Longer-term inflation expectations for the next five years also fell noticeably from 5.1 to 4.7 percent.
euro zone: Trade balance with significantly lower deficit
LUXEMBOURG – The trade balance of the euro zone showed a significantly lower deficit in May than in the previous month. Seasonally adjusted, there was a minus of 0.9 billion euros, as the statistics office Eurostat announced on Friday in Luxembourg. In April, the deficit was still 8.0 billion euros.
‘Economists’ warn of a subsidy race with the USA
BERLIN – The “business wise men” have warned of a subsidy race between Europe and the USA – instead, the EU should adapt its existing funding programs for “green technologies”. This is a key point of an analysis presented on Friday by the Council of Experts on the effects of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a multi-billion dollar subsidy program. It states that in order to strengthen the competitiveness of European companies, additional subsidies would also be required in the EU as an answer to the IRA. “However, a subsidy race would be associated with considerable welfare losses for both the USA and the EU and should therefore be avoided.”
Customer Note:
ROUNDUP: You are reading a summary in the business cycle overview. There are several reports on the dpa-AFX news service on this subject.
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