2007-04-16

US vs Eurozone

Here are some interesting stats, courtesy of The Economist (here, here and here)

GDP Growth (Q4 2006)

USA: + 3.1%
Eurozone: +3.3%
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Unemployment Rate

USA: 4.4% (March 2007)
Eurozone: 7.3% (February 2007)
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Industrial Production

USA: +3.4% (Feb)
Eurozone +3.7% (Jan)
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Inflation

USA: +2.4% (Feb)
Eurozone: +1.9%
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Current account balance (% of GDP)

USA: -6.1%
Eurozone: -0.1%
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Share Markets since Dec 29th 2006 (growth in value in US Dollars)

DJIA (USA) +0.2%
S&P 500 (USA) +1.5%
Nasdaq (USA) +1.8%
FTSE Euro 100 (Eurozone) +7.6%
DJ Stoxx 50 (Eurozone) +6.2%
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Comment: The US still obviously beats Europe in terms of unemployment and raw GDP figures, however other indicators show a US slowdown and European growth. The Eurozone's GDP grew faster than the US, the Eurozone has a very healthy current account balance compared to America's borrowing binge, inflation in the Eurozone is more benign than America (despite GDP expanding faster than America) and the share market index indicates that European stocks are doing much, much better than anything in the US (although this is skewed because of the drop in value of the US Dollar... but that is something the US has to be concerned about)

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