EoW September 2008

to 50.2 for the month after a 49.6 reading in May. A reading over 50 indicates growth. Coming in stronger than expected, the bellwether manufacturing report published 1 st July also showed exports remained strong, helping offset the effect of dwindling domestic demand. Home-market orders dropped slightly, and an inflation gauge edged upward. In a separate report on 1 st July, the latest figures issued by the government indicated that spending on construction projects declined for a second month. The US Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce estimated construction spending during May at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,085.2 billion, 0.4% below the revised April estimate of $1,089.3 billion. The May figure is 6% below the May 2007 estimate of $1,154.6 billion. During the first five months of this year, construction spending amounted to $416.6 billion, 5.1% below the $438.7 billion for the same period in 2007. Canada, too, is seeing a rebound in the manufacturing sector, which ❈ ❈ helped the national economy grow by a stronger-than-expected 0.4% in April after two months of contraction. A 1 st July report by Statistics Canada showed manufacturing expanded 1.9% in the month, although not enough to recover the 2.4% decline in March. The strength in manufacturing was widespread, but motor vehicle production was the big contributor with a 7% rise compared with a 12.8% drop in March. Even so, economists see growth in the sector remaining weak for the rest of the year. Growth in Canadian gross domestic product in April beat market expectations of a 0.3% climb after declines in March and February of 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. The economy shrank in the first quarter for the first time since the second quarter of 2003, by an annualised 0.3%. Of related interest . . . The United States has filed a complaint with the World Trade ❈ ❈ Organisation over European tariffs on technology goods of American manufacture. The duties, which run as high as 14%, make such goods less competitive in Europe, according to the Information Technology Industry Council, a US trade association. The complaint reflects the Bush administration’s view that the European duties violate a 1996 WTO agreement that eliminated tariffs on information technology equipment, and that they effectively tax innovation. The European Commission said in a statement that it was willing to renegotiate the 1996 Information Technology Agreement to cover new products, but that the US had refused to do so. The commission said, “Both the spirit and explicit provisions in the ITA make it clear that extension to new products to reflect technological change would not be automatic, but based on periodic review by signatories.” The WTO received the complaint 29 th May, beginning a 60-day consultation period with the European Union. After that, the United States may ask a WTO panel to rule on the dispute. Total worldwide exports of the products included in the complaint totalled $70 billion in 2007.

Steel

Two for Nucor: joint ventures with Sidenor, of Greece, and Italy’s Duferco

Nucor Corp (Charlotte, North Carolina) announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sidenor SA to purchase a 34%

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EuroWire – September 2008