Reversal of fortune?
	International Perspective – July 8, 2002
	Anne D. Picker, International Economist, Econoday

Last Weeks Highlights

After a miserable start to the second quarter, things improved as the week progressed. The equities indexes continue to be weighed down by bad corporate news. Questionable accounting practices have surfaced in Europe, while insolvent banks loaded down with bad loans have long plagued Japan. Yet, while the United States was shooting off firecrackers, the others took the opportunity to stabilize and reverse direction. At week’s end, only four indexes followed here were not able to entirely reverse the losses at the beginning of the week.

It was a busy week for central banks. Neither the Reserve Bank of Australia, nor the Bank of England nor the European Central Bank changed their key interest rate levels of 4.75 percent, 4 percent and 3.25 percent, respectively. Australia has the most vibrant economy, with first quarter gross domestic product jumping 4.2 percent when compared with last year. Britain grew at a 1.2 percent rate, while the EMU grew an anemic 0.1 percent on the year.