Given the weakness in the US dollar, the answer to the above question seems obvious. But by at least one measure, it is not so cut and dry. At the beginning of every month, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) releases two economic indicators that measure the pace of US economic activity in the manufacturing and services sector. The European economies have their own indicators for both sectors as well (which Bloomberg combines into one composite indicator).
The two charts below compare activity in the manufacturing and service sectors of the US (ISM indices) and Europe (Bloomberg Indices). While there was a large spread between manufacturing activity in the US and Europe for much of 2006, the current spread is much narrower now than it has been. In the services sector, the differences are even less apparent. In fact, as of the most recent data point, activity in the US service sector is actually greater than it is in Europe.
Comments