U.S. Review
Making Progress on the Road to Recovery
• December’s employment report was generally disappointing, with a larger than expected 85,000-job decline in nonfarm payrolls and huge declines in household employment and the civilian labor force.
• Most major chain stores reported better-than-expected results for December.
• Manufacturing activity improved toward the end of 2009, with factory orders rising solidly and the ISM manufacturing survey ending the year at 55.9.
Global Review
Euro-zone: Where Is the Recovery?
• The purchasing managers’ indices in the Euro-zone suggest that real GDP growth likely remained positive in the fourth quarter. However, “hard” data have been less encouraging. Although we expect that economic growth in the euro area will remain positive, we believe that the pace of expansion will remain frustratingly slow over the next few quarters.
• The core rate of inflation continues to trend lower. With benign inflation and a weak recovery, we expect that the European Central Bank will refrain from raising rates well into the second half of the year…Click HERE to view the full report.
Source: Wells Fargo
Tags: economic, employment, financial, growth, Inflation, manage, rate, Real, recovery, Report, research, survey
