strong/stronga href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SWJCBADk-EI/AAAAAAAAMBE/lRuGq1QvY5c/s1600-h/cafe+fiorino.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287861497448691778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 241px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SWJCBADk-EI/AAAAAAAAMBE/lRuGq1QvY5c/s320/cafe+fiorino.png" border="0" //abr /br /by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /br /Spain's inflation (as measured by the EU HICP methodology) was around 1.5% (year on year) in December 2008, according to the flash estimate issued by the stats office (INE) earlier this week. This number only offers us an initial glimpse of the final HICP reading, but, if confirmed, it will mean Spain's annual rate of inflation has dropped 0.9% (nearly one full percentage point) in the space 0f just one month - since in November the annual rate was 2.4%.br /br /a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SWHrDP6v8KI/AAAAAAAAL_M/-UWmp9lHkN8/s1600-h/spain+CPI.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287765878554751138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 187px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SWHrDP6v8KI/AAAAAAAAL_M/-UWmp9lHkN8/s320/spain+CPI.png" border="0" //abr /br /It will also mean that Spain's inflation for 2007 dropped its the lowest rate in a decade, down sharply ...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /While we are likely to see a "substantial'' drop in euro-region inflation, Bank of Spain forecasts for the 15-nation euro area do not show price drops. That is they "show an enormous moderation in price gains, but they do show price gains,'' according to the latest statements by Miquel Angel Fernandez Ordoñez, ECB Council member and Governor of the Bank of Spain. Bank of Spain eurozone forecasts "don't show deflation" he told reporters in Madrid yesterday (Wednesday).br /br /The reason for this swift and adroit response to the question of the day in Spain was that EU Economy and Finance Commissioner Joaquin Almunia (not exactly your garden-variety world authority on macroeconomic topics) had earier said that the Europe's economies were "facing the prospect of deflation" amidst the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. In fact Fernandez Ordoñez is right, as is his want - right ...

With partisan politics and media telling their own twisted truth about the U.S. economy, perhaps the most accurate forecast comes from Europe.

The European Commission forecast on Monday that the 15-country Eurozone will grow a meager 0.1% next year - at best.

The global financial crisis has hit Europe like Hurricane Katrina flattened New Orleans. And we expect this is a clear indicator of how the U.S. will fare as we approach 2009.

What this means to investors is that the major emerging markets such as China and India may indeed be the place for their money. China and India are certainly down from the commodity supercycle heyday, but their growth far outstrips what we’re seeing (and can expect to see) in Western industrialized economies.

The European Commission said the Eurozone’s largest economies such as Italy, France and Germany will come to virtual standstill with the prospect of 0% growth.

At the same time, second-tier

...

With partisan politics and media telling their own twisted truth about the U.S. economy, perhaps the most accurate forecast comes from Europe.

The European Commission forecast on Monday that the 15-country Eurozone will grow a meager 0.1% next year - at best.

The global financial crisis has hit Europe like Hurricane Katrina flattened New Orleans. And we expect this is a clear indicator of how the U.S. will fare as we approach 2009.

What this means to investors is that the major emerging markets such as China and India may indeed be the place for their money. China and India are certainly down from the commodity supercycle heyday, but their growth far outstrips what we’re seeing (and can expect to see) in Western industrialized economies.

The European Commission said the Eurozone’s largest economies such as Italy, France and Germany will come to virtual standstill with the prospect of 0% growth.

At the same time, second-tier

...

By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor The Eurozone economy recorded its first decline in more than a decade as slowdowns in the European Union’s largest economies dragged on gross domestic product (GDP). The Eurozone economy, which covers the 15 nations that share the euro currency, contracted 0.2% in the second quarter, as a 0.5% decline in Germany and a 0.3% decline in France offset gains in the smaller economies of Austria, Portugal and Spain, Eurostat, the European Union’s official statistics office, announced yesterday (Thursday). The decline marks the Eurozone’s first contraction since 1996, when the euro was introduced and Eurostat began tracking the data. While declining to speculate on the potential for a recession, “the signs are not really very good for the future,” Amelia Torres, spokeswoman for EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, told Bloomberg News in Brussels yesterday. “It’s ...