PIIGS Current Account 2011-2012

Société Générale made this chart on the current account balance as a percentage of GDP for Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. In October 2012 Ireland, Spain and Greece had a positive balance on the current account, meaning that the value of their exports was higher than the value of imports. Especially for Greece this is a tremendous improvement since the huge negative numbers in the beginning of 2011. Both Italy and Portugal also temporarily had a positive balance in the beginning of 2012.

The question is whether these improved current account balance mainly reflect better export fundamentals or lower imports due to lack of economic growth.

Societe Generale

Changing Top Manufacturing Countries (1980-2010)

The developing countries have made their way more and more in the top 10 of global manufacturing countries. While you might expect China on the first spot, the United States as being the world's biggest economy is still the largest manufacturing producer. Brazil has advanced up to the sixth place. India just entered the top 10 in 2010 and Russia especially made a big jump from place 12 in 2000 to 11 in 2010.

ZeroHedge

Will Mexico Overtake China In U.S. Imports?

The Economist constructed this chart with data from the U.S. Department Of Commerce and HSBC. In 1990 China was still a small player in the international trade. Imports from the U.S. out of China were only 3.1 percent of the total U.S. imports. At the time Mexico was twice as big in the percentage of imports from the U.S. The biggest trading partners in terms of exports were Canada and Japan, both with a share of 18 percent. Especially Japan saw its share decline since the continuing crisis the country has been in from 1990. Today the import share that Japan has is lower than Mexico in 1990.

With the high economic growth in Japan before the 90s Japanese wages increased a lot. This gave opportunities to countries like China which at the time had an enormous potential cheap labor force to manufacture goods for exporting to the Western world. With the high economic growth in China wages are rising. Mexico seems the next country to benefit from low wages.

A likely reason why Canada is still a relatively big player is it's favorable location.

Due to a request by the Economist this graph has been removed. 

View the graph here

Gold Price In Several Currencies (2007-2012)

This graph from Reuters shows that gold (price set to 100 in all currencies in the beginning of 2007) rose in all selected currencies from 2007-2012. In UK pounds the gold price rose the most. What might be surprising is that the gold price rose more in Swiss francs than in Japanese yen, in which for the last currency gold grew the least.

ZeroHedge

Scandinavia Versus The Euro Zone

The economies Sweden and Norway in Scandinavia grow faster and both have a lower unemployment rate than the average of the Euro Zone. Fiscal positions are also considrably better in Norway and Sweden. The manufacturing indicator is slowing down for these countries lately as well though.

Thompson Reuters

China Export Growth Versus Economic Growth

With export growth structurally slowing down in China economic growth is expected the grow less as well. Export growth is now 1 percent, very close to a decline. This has helped bring the economic growth far under the average of 10 percent (since 2000).

Thomson Reuters

German trade surplus increased fourfold Since Euro

This graph illustrates the positive effects of the monetary union Germany enjoyed since the introduction of the Euro. Germany's trade surplus increased by a fourfold since 1999.

Sudden Debt

Exports As a Percentage of GDP (Germany Versus PIIGS)

Ireland is the champion of exports in the Euro Zone. Germany takes a good second place and Portugal's economy is also quite dependent on the international trade. Greece on the other hand has the lowest exports as a percentage of GDP, of the selected countries.

Reuters

History of Reserve Currencies

The reserve currency is the main currency that is used by many governments and institutions as foreign reserves. Also it is used to price most commodities. This first graph shows the reserve currencies throughout history, by country. Currently the dollar is the reserve currency. Before that the British pound was the most used currency in the world.

J.P. Morgan

This graph shows the names of the reserve currencies throughout history. From the aureus coin in the first few centuries after Christ. The gulden being the dominant currency in the 17th century. It is not clear to me that the two graphs seem to have interchanged Spain and France. Who knows the correct order?

Now is the question: which currency will follow the dollar?

Zero Hedge

Dollars per Euro Exchange Rate (1999-2011)

The graph shows the euro/dollar exchange rate. In other words it shows how many dollars you get with one euro. Currently you get 1,30 dollar for one euro.

The average exchange rate since the launch of the euro was 1,20 dollar per euro.

Size Of The Financial Markets

In 2010 world Gross domestic product was 63 trillion dollars. The financial industry is many times bigger than the value of all goods and services produced in the world. Shares and bonds are about the same value of world GDP, but derivatives trading and foreign currency transactions are ten and fifteen times bigger than world gdp.

Der Spiegel

Components Of US Real GDP Since 2007

This chart from Business Insider shows the components of the change in quarterly real GDP for the United States since 2007. In the last quarter personal consumption has stalled dramatically.

Business Insider

United States largest foreign Debtor; Japan largest Creditor

According to a new report from McKinsey the United States was the country with the biggest foreign investments, but if you substract the Liabilities you see the US is the largest foreign debtor. This represents the current account deficit which must be compensated by foreign borrowing. Japan is the largest foreign creditor.

McKinsey

All Time Record of U.S. Exports

The United States exporting machine is back on track as this chart from Business Insider shows: 'Slag the American recovery all you want, and fret about the unexpectedly large gap we saw for March, but here's a fact: US exports just hit a brand new, all-time record'.

Source: Business Insider

Current Account Balance for Developed Countries

Currenct Account Balance in 2011 for developed countries

The Dollar Exchange Rate: declining

The dollar weighted exchange rate (against miltiple currencies) has been falling since the beginning of this millenium as you can see in this graph from The Economist:

Due to a request by the Economist this graph has been removed. 

View the graph here