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Europe is heading off a cliff! From one end of the continent to the other, the
numbers suggest a double-dip recession is striking with brutal force…and with the world as interconnected as it is these days, what happens in Europe WILL impact our companies and markets here so now is the time to position your portfolio to weather the storm. Words: 900
So says Mike Larson (www.moneyandmarkets.com) in edited excerpts from his original article*.
Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!), has edited the article below for length and clarity – see Editor’s Note at the bottom of the page. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.
Larson goes on to say, in part:
Just consider the following …
1. A key industrial activity index in the euro zone tanked…to its worst reading in 25 months.
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2. The main European purchasing managers’ index fell to 45.9 in April, a nine-month low.
3. The Italian purchasing managers’ index sank to a six-month low.
4. The Spainish purchasing managers’ index dropped to a 34-month low….
5. Germany’s manufacturing index sank to its own 33-month low! That proves the recession is spreading from the periphery of Europe to its very core!
6. Unemployment in the 17-nation euro zone rose to 10.9 percent in March, the most since the euro currency was launched 13 years ago. [In addition], German unemployment unexpectedly rose by 19,000 to 2.87 million, another confirmation of Europe’s spreading sickness.
7. The European Central Bank (ECB) was able to tamp down the crisis in the European debt markets temporarily in late 2011 and early 2012…by doling out one trillion euros in nearly free money to hundreds of banks across the Continent via the so-called Long-Term Refinancing Operations, or LTROs…
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The banks could have used that money to lend to companies and individuals who need it… [and/or] shored up their balance sheets but they didn’t. A just-released ECB survey showed that small business access to credit is on track to fall another 7 percent in the coming few months after collapsing by 20 percent in the past quarter….
[Instead] the banks have bought even MORE of the same, lousy sovereign bonds that got them into trouble in the first place! Spanish banks increased their holdings of Spanish government bonds by 26%…Italian banks raised their stake in Italian government debt by 31%, Irish banks boosted holdings by 21%, while Portuguese banks jacked up their exposure by 15%!
Bottom line? You have a European economy that’s sinking into a double-dip recession and you have a European financial system that’s buried under a massive — and GROWING — mountain of troubled sovereign bonds.
Conclusion
It may seem easy to brush those concerns under the rug….but I urge you to keep your eye on the big picture. With the world as interconnected as it is these days, what happens in Europe WILL impact our companies and markets here….so please make sure you have select downside hedges in place…[and that] your upside plays are in ironclad, rock-solid companies that can withstand the deepening European crisis!
*http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/euro-zone-heading-off-a-cliff-49583 (To access the articles please copy the URL and paste it into your browser.)
Editor’s Note: The above article may have been edited ([ ]), abridged (…), and reformatted (including the title, some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. The article’s views and conclusions are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original article.
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