Global Economic Health from Joseph Glenn Commodities

Oct. 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Fears of sovereign contagion grew on rumors that Greece would soon default on its debt. At mid-month, European finance ministers and central bank governors (and even Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner) conferred to try and figure out the least disruptive resolution to the crisis. The G-20 issued a statement promising a "strong and coordinated international response to address the renewed challenges facing the global economy". That aside, both the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee and International Monetary Fund managing director Christine LaGarde saw appreciable"downside risks" for the U.S. and world economies.

When investors weren't worried about Greek banks going belly-up or Greece ditching the euro for the drachma, they had concerns about China. Its central bank was trying to arrange a soft landing for its slowing economy. Data showed China's consumer prices up 6.2% in August from a year earlier; the People's Bank of China has raised interest rates five times in the last 12 months. China's official PMI improved a bit to 51.2 in September, but looking long-term, 59% of analysts and traders recently surveyed in Bloomberg's Global Poll of Investors think that its economy will see growth of less than 5% by 2016. Meanwhile, key PMIs in Australia (42.3) and India (50.4) went lower.