Indicator scoreboard
EMU - March industrial producer prices edged up 0.2 percent and 2.4 percent when compared with last year. Energy goods climbed 0.6 percent and 7.6 percent on the year. Excluding energy, the PPI was up 0.1 percent and 1.2 percent on the year. Prices for capital goods, non-durable consumer goods and intermediate goods all rose 0.1 percent on the month, while prices for durable consumer goods remained unchanged.

March seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched up to 8.7 percent from a downwardly revised 8.6 percent in the previous month. The March rate is the highest since February 2000 and was up from a rate of 8.2 percent in March 2002. Of the nine countries reporting data for March, unemployment rose in six and was unchanged in three.

April Reuters business activity index was 47.7 percent level. The index contracted at the same rate as the prior month, dragged down by the first contraction in Italian the services industry. If the index is above 50, activity is expanding and if below 50, it is contracting. The lower the index is below 50, the faster the contraction. Services have contracted for three consecutive months. Despite weak current conditions, business expectations for the 12-month horizon rose with the fall of Baghdad to their highest level since September 2002. New business contracted at the fastest pace in 17 months while outstanding business fell to its lowest since October 2001.

Final fourth quarter real gross domestic product edged up 0.1 percent and 1.2 percent when compared with last year. Net exports and inventory change were revised upward, barely offsetting the downward revisions to government consumption and gross capital formation. Private consumption was unrevised.

Germany - April seasonally adjusted unemployment jumped by 44,000. West German unemployment jumped 30,000 after surging 42,000 the month before, while in east Germany, unemployment rose 14,000 after an 11,000 gain in March. The unemployment rate rose to 10.7 percent from 10.6 percent in March. The April rate was the highest since December 1998. The unemployment rate rose to 18.7 in east Germany but remained at 8.5 percent in the west.

March seasonally adjusted manufacturing orders plummeted 3.9 percent. Orders declined 3.8 percent in the west and 5.6 percent in the east. It seems likely that demand for German manufactured products was adversely affected by strong geopolitical tensions in March, particularly the start of the Iraq war. The March drop was due largely to weaker domestic orders, which sank 5.6 percent while foreign orders were down 2.0 percent. All major categories sank.

March seasonally adjusted industrial production sank 1.1 percent and 0.4 percent when compared with last year. Construction output soared 8.7 percent after a 4.6 percent decline in February. All other industry output categories fell, led by a 3.5 percent contraction in investment goods production and a 2.8 percent drop in energy output. Manufacturing output fell 1.7 percent on the month, wiping out the 0.2 percent gain the month before. Excluding construction, industry output fell 1.9 percent after a 0.6 percent gain in February. Eurostat uses industrial production excluding construction to compute the eurozone industrial production data. West German industrial output dropped 1.4 percent after rising 0.4 percent in February, while in the east production rose 2.0 percent after falling 1.4 percent the month before.

March seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus was €8.6 billion, down from the €10.1 billion February surplus and down from the €11.0 billion March 2002 surplus. Exports were down 0.5 percent but were up 0.9 percent on the year. Imports were up 2.7 percent and 6.5 percent on the year.

Britain - March industrial production dropped 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent when compared with last year. Output was depressed by a 3.1 percent decline in utilities output and a 1.1 percent decline in mining and quarrying output, which includes oil and gas. Manufacturing output sank 0.4 percent and is down 1.0 percent on the year. Output in 10 out of the 13 manufacturing sub-sectors fell on the month.

Asia
Australia - April seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent in March. The workforce participation rate, or the proportion of working-age persons at work or actively seeking work, fell to 64.0 percent from 64.1 percent in March. The number of people in full-time work fell 12,000 to 6.78 million from 6.79 million in March. The number of people in part-time work fell 2,300 to 2.731 million from 2.733 million in March. Australia's economy unexpectedly lost jobs for a third month in April as severe acute respiratory syndrome cut the number of tourists by a quarter, prompting companies such as Qantas Airways Ltd. to fire workers. The unemployment rate has ranged between 6 percent and 6.2 percent since July 2002. The jobless rate hasn't been below 6 percent since 1990.

Americas
Canada - April employment dropped by 18,800 while the unemployment rate jumped to 7.5 percent from 7.3 percent in March. Part-time employment fell by 29,400 but full time jobs rose by 10,700. Employment fell in accommodation and food services (because of the SARS problem in Toronto) but was up 16,000 in trade, the first increase since the start of the year. Manufacturing employment was down 7,500 jobs.

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