It’s a perfect score for Germany’s economic reports so far this week—perfectly negative. In two days we’ve seen two macro updates for Europe’s biggest economy and in both cases the numbers were deeply disappointing. Yesterday we learned that new manufacturing orders suffered a substantially larger-than-expected decline in August, followed by today’s news that industrial output plunged 4% during that month. On a year-over-year basis, industrial activity in Germany has crumbled by 3%. It’s been clear for the past month or so that the country’s expansion was slowing, but the latest figures suggest that the deceleration is much worse than assumed.
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● German Industrial Output Drops Most Since 2009 in August | Bloomberg
German industrial production fell more than economists forecast in August in the latest sign that the outlook for Europe’s largest economy is deteriorating.
●Islamic State moves into south west of Syrian Kurdish town | Reuters
Islamic State fighters advanced into the south west of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani overnight, a monitoring group said on Tuesday, taking several buildings to gain attacking positions from two sides of the city.
● Has the West entered secular stagnation? | Vox
Among respondents to the latest monthly survey of the Centre for Macroeconomics, reported in this column, three out of four think not – though, on balance, they feel that policy ought to be more expansionary anyway.
● France cautions Germany not to push Europe too far on austerity | Telegraph
France has denounced the eurozone’s austerity regime as deeply misguided and issued a blunt warning to Germany and the EU institutions that demands for further belt-tightening may set off a political backlash, endangering European stability.
● Volatility returning to currency markets | Sober Look
Today the dollar gave up much of its Friday’s gains that were driven by stronger than expected US employment situation report. We haven’t seen such volatility in currency markets in some time. What happened?
● What do the protests in Hong Kong mean for global firms? | Fortune
The foreign business community is worried about the impact of a violent crackdown on protestors by Hong Kong’s police or, even worse, an order from Beijing to deploy Peoples Liberation Army troops.
● Big Banks Face Another Round of U.S. Charges | NY Times
With evidence mounting that a number of foreign and American banks colluded to alter the price of foreign currencies, the largest and least regulated financial market, prosecutors are aiming to file charges against at least one bank by the end of the year, according to interviews with lawyers briefed on the matter.