Indicator scoreboard
Germany - November ZEW economic expectations index fell sharply to 4.2 from 23.4 in the previous month. The November decline was the fifth in a row and brought expectations to their lowest level since July 2001. The eurozone expectations index fell 10.1 points to plus 24.2, also the fifth decline in a row and the lowest since Nov. 2001. Current conditions for Germany fell 3.6 points to minus 94.1, while those for the eurozone fell 2.5 points to minus 75.6.

September seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus was €11.9 billion, down from a €12.4 billion surplus in August. Exports were up 0.3 percent on the month and 7.5 percent on the year. Imports were up 1.8 percent on the month and 0.7 percent on the year.

October wholesale prices fell 0.2 percent but were up 0.9 percent when compared with last year. A sharp drop in seasonal food prices more than offset higher prices for oil products. Excluding seasonal food prices, wholesale prices rose 0.1 percent and 0.9 percent on the year. Energy prices rose 1.2 percent and 5.9 percent on the year. Excluding oil products, wholesale prices fell 0.4 percent on the month and rose 0.1 percent on the year.

France - September seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus narrowed to €517 million from €1.532 billion in August. Exports fell 3.7 percent. Declines were led by capital goods and household durables, as well as a downturn in auto exports. The ongoing rise in aerospace exports to the Middle East was offset by lower exports to North America and weak exports to other EU countries. Imports barely rose with increases in pharmaceuticals, autos and auto parts offsetting the steady decline in capital goods imports, a reflection of weak domestic investment.

September seasonally and workday adjusted industrial output fell 0.3 percent and was down 1.1 percent when compared with last year. Manufacturing output fell 0.2 percent and was down 1.2 percent on the year. All manufacturing sectors were down with the exception of consumer goods.

Italy - September seasonally and workday-adjusted industrial production dropped 0.5 percent and 2.7 percent when compared with last year. Consumer goods' output fell 1.5 percent, output of investment goods dropped 0.9 percent while intermediate goods were unchanged.

Third quarter preliminary real gross domestic product increased 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent when compared with last year. Growth in the second quarter was unrevised at 0.2 percent on the quarter and on the year. Unlike other eurozone countries, Italian GDP data are adjusted for seasonal factors but not for working days. No breakdown is provided with the early estimate.

Britain - October producer output prices were unchanged but up 0.6 percent on the year. Seasonally adjusted core output prices, which exclude food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum products, rose 0.2 percent and were up 0.7 percent on the year. Increases in petroleum and other manufactured product prices were offset by a decline in alcohol prices. Seasonally adjusted input prices rose 1 percent and 2 percent above levels a year earlier.

October retail price index (RPI) rose 0.2 percent and 2.1 percent when compared with last year. The retail price index excluding mortgage interest payments (RPIX) rose 0.1 percent and was up 2.3 percent on the year. The main upward impact on RPIX inflation came from a rise in the housing depreciation component, a proxy for house prices. The Bank of England uses the RPIX as its inflation gauge.

October claimant count unemployment fell 4,500 to 940,500, its lowest level since 1975. The unemployment rate remained at 3.1 percent where it has been since June. The International Labor Organization unemployment rate for July through September rose to 5.3 percent from 5.1 percent in the previous three-month period. The ILO unemployment rate excludes jobseekers who did any work during the month. The ILO unemployment level rose 45,000 on the previous three months. The last time the ILO unemployment rate was at this level was in the September through November 2000 period.

September average earnings rose by 3.8 percent. The fastest rate of growth was in the service sector, with earnings up 3.9 percent. Manufacturing earnings rose by 3.6 percent, down from 3.7 percent in the previous month. Earnings in the public sector rose 3.6 percent, up from 3.4 percent, while earnings in the private sector rose 3.8 percent, down from 3.9 percent. Excluding bonuses, average earnings rose to 3.6 percent from 3.4 percent in the previous period.

Asia
Japan - September current account surplus shrank to ¥1 trillion ($8.3 billion) as exports fell. The seasonally adjusted current account surplus, the broadest measure of trade because it includes investment and services, narrowed 14 percent. Exports fell for a fourth month as economic growth in the U.S., which buys two-fifths of Japan's exports, slowed. From a year earlier, the current account surplus fell 6.8 percent. Japan's income account surplus, which tracks profits, dividends and interest payments, fell to ¥672.7 billion from ¥715.1 billion in August. The services deficit, which includes overseas travel, widened to ¥473.3 billion from a ¥340.3 billion deficit in August.

Third quarter gross domestic product climbed 0.7 percent and 1.5 percent when compared with last year. GDP expanded by 3.0 percent on an annualized basis. This was the third straight quarter of expansion as spending by consumers and companies overcame the drag from slipping external demand. Second quarter growth was revised upward to 1.0 percent when an export-led boom in manufacturing helped the economy pull out of its worst postwar recession. Exports continued to grow, but the 0.5 percent rise represented a significant slowdown from 5.9 percent growth in the previous period, and was well off the 1.8 percent rise in imports. The external drag, however, was more than offset by a rebound in consumer spending. Consumer spending increased for the fourth straight quarter, rising 0.8 percent despite continued high unemployment and a protracted slump in wages. But capital investment fell 0.9 percent, after rising a revised 0.2 percent in the previous quarter. The data also underscored the price declines that continue to weigh on the economy. The GDP deflator, a measure of inflationary or deflationary pressure, was minus 1.6 percent, worse than minus 1.0 percent in the second quarter. Nominal GDP, which doesn't account for changes in prices, grew 0.3 percent in the third quarter, or 1.1 percent in annualized terms.

October corporate bankruptcies rose 12. 7 percent but fell 10.7 percent when compared with last year, according to private credit research agency Teikoku Databank Ltd. Bankruptcies totaled 1,706 cases as a growing number of firms succumbed to the effects of ongoing deflation. A string of large-scale bankruptcies, such as golf courses and real estate firms, sent total liabilities surging 79.9 percent on the year to ¥1.927 trillion. Debts jumped 135.6 percent from September. Of the total bankruptcies, 1,293 cases - more than three-quarters - were caused by recession-related factors such as poor sales or inability to pay back loans.

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