Hallo allerseits,

hier ist noch mehr"Hintergrundrauschen":

ft.com: Japanese leading indicators fall (to 28.6 from 70 in March!)

Japan's leading economic indicators slid below the"boom-or-bust" mark in April for the first time in 14 months, but the government said on Monday the economy continues to improve.
"At this point, the economy is unmistakeably on a gradual recovery track," said trade and industry vice minister Katsusada Hirose.
The Economic Planning Agency (EPA) said its index of leading indicators fell to a preliminary 28.6 on a scale of 100 from 70.0 in March, dropping below the 50 mark thought to indicate expansion in the coming months.
But an EPA official said the fall was a statistical blip reflecting special factors that had pushed three components of the index up in January, the month used for April comparisons
...


Bill Fleckenstein's Market Rap: Did somebody say inflation?...

A reader pointed out that instead of going through all these fancy inflation exercises, we could keep it simple and just look to the golden arches of McDonald's. A year ago the ad read"Get more for your money: 2 for $2" -- you could get a couple of Big Macs for $2. About six months ago it was"2 for $2.22" and about a week ago the ad was"2 for $2.42." By his calculations, that's about a 20 percent increase. But it's probably a little too obvious for folks to see. Besides, it's part of the food and energy complex which we get to exclude, right, since none of us eat and none of us drive.


FAZ: Absatzeinbruch von DaimlerChrysler in Amerika

NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) - Der Absatz des DaimlerChrysler-Konzerns ist ohne die Marke Mercedes in Amerika im Monat Mai 2000 um 18 Prozent auf 226.348 Fahrzeuge zurückgegangen. Wie die"Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" in ihrer am Samstag erschienenen Wochenendausgabe berichtete, hatten Marktbeobachter lediglich mit einem Rückgang von 15 Prozent gerechnet. Der Absatzeinbruch sei auf die veraltete Modellplatte der amerikanischen Marke Chrysler zurückzuführen. Jedoch dürften sich der neuen Mittelklassewagen"PT Cruiser" und das Nachfolgemodell des Kleinbusses"Voyager" wieder positiv auf die DaimlerChrysler-Zulassungszahlen des Konzerns auswirken./hk/ub


Zum Euro: Die bisher erschienen Publikationen von Heinsohn/Steiger zum Euro findet man hier (als PDF zum Download)



Was den Spread zwischen deutschen und italienischen Staatsanleihen anbelangt, möchte ich auf den Aufsatz Whither Gold? von Antal E. Fekete hinweisen, der etwas ähnliches bereits im Jahr 1996 vorhergesagt hat. Hier der entsprechende Absatz:

"...
Let us note in passing that the scheme concocted at Maastricht (introducing yet another irredeemable monetary unit, the Euro, defined as a basket of irredeemable currencies) is doomed for the same reason. The currency that depreciates at the lowest rate, in this case the German mark, far from imparting strength to other currencies in the basket, would make them even weaker. Arbitrage would act as a centrifuge, separating the components of the basket, throwing away the soft and keeping only the hardest of hard currencies. (If marks, liras, etc. were no longer available for trading, then the object of arbitrage would be the central bank assets that had been used to balance liabilities in marks, liras, etc.) The authors of the Maastricht scheme turned the ancient wisdom -- that no chain can be stronger than its weakest link -- upside down. They have invented a chain that is as strong as its strongest link.
..."


Grüße, NickLeeson

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