So everyone’s asking “why so long in releasing it”

Conspiracy theorists will be having a field day……

–Adds detail to version transmitted at 0841 GMT
-UK CIPS July Manufacturing PMI 45.4: Markit/Reuters

LONDON (MNI) – UK manufacturing activity hit a 38-month low in
July, with the sector contracting sharply.

The headline Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
index from Reuters plunged to 45.4 in July from a revised 48.4 in June,
its lowest reading since May 2009 and well below analysts’ median
forecast for a 48.0 outturn.

Export orders plunged, posting their fastest fall since February
2009. The first of the UK Q3 PMIs shows manufacturing getting off to a
very poor start and suggests it could well act as a drag on the expected
rebound in economic activity in Q3.

The fit between the CIPS surveys and the official growth data,
however, has not been tight.

Markit said its Q2 PMIs showed suggested “a slight 0.1% fall in GDP
growth”, but the official data showed a much sharper contraction of 0.7%
on the quarter.

Markit said the fall in export new orders in July was not only due
to Eurozone weakness.

“The Eurozone market remained the principal drag on new export
orders, although there were also some reports of a decline in new
business received from Asia,” it said.

The fall in manufacturing output in July was the steepest for 40
months.

“Underlying demand remained weak and market conditions highly
competitive. Coming on the back of a 1.4% decline in manufacturing
production in the second quarter, it looks like the sector remains a
major drag on the overall economy,” Rob Dobson, Senior Economist at
Markit, said.

George Buckley, senior UK economist at Deutsche Bank, noted that
the slowdown in manufacturing has been very widespread in July.

The PMIs have “been slowing across the globe; of the 16
manufacturing PMIs for July published so far 11 of them are below 50 and
10 reported a fall in July,” Buckley said in a note.

-London newsroom: +44 207 862 7491; email:drobinson@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MABDS$,M$B$$$]

-UK CIPS Jul Manufacturing PMI 45.4: Markit/Reuters

LONDON (MNI) – UK manufacturing activity hit a 38-month low in
July, with the sector contracting sharply.

The headline Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
index from Reuters plunged to 45.4 in July from a revised 48.4 in June,
its lowest reading since May 2009 and well below analysts’ median
forecast for a 48.0 outturn.

Export orders plunged, posting their fastest fall since February
2009. The first of the UK Q3 PMIs shows manufacturing getting off to a
very poor start and suggests it could well act as a drag on the expected
rebound in economic activity in Q3.

The fit between the CIPS surveys and the official growth data,
however, has not been tight.

Markit said its Q2 PMIs showed suggesed “a slight 0.1% fall in GDP
growth”, but the official data showed a much sharper contraction of 0.7%
on the quarter.

–London newsroom: +44 207 862 7491; email:drobinson@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MABDS$,M$B$$$]

• Governments overestimate ECB possibilities
• Bundesbank has greater say at ECB than some others
• Hard to imagine political union in near future
• Bundesbank will stand up for what it believes in
• Bundesbank stands for stable monetary union

Bloomberg reporting.

EUR/USD slips back below 1.2300 on the comments, presently at 1.2295.

Earlier reports had buy orders clustered 1.2270/80, sell stops below there.

Wolfman pins The Destroyer to the canvas……….

Also well below Reuters poll of 48.5, and the lowest reading since May 2009.

Output index also plummets to 43.3 from 51.9,

Cable sinks back over 30 pips on the release to day’s lows around 1.5650

Hope springs a turtle….

EUR/USD sits at 1.2323.  More buy stops seen through 1.2340.

Draghi The Destroyer vs Wolfman Weidmann

Brought to you by WWF….

GERMANY DATA: June machine orders -1%; May -6%; April -11%: VDMA
– VDMA: June domestic machine orders +3% y/y;foreign orders -3%
– VDMA: April-June total orders -6% y/y;domestic -7%; foreign -5%
– See Mainwire for more details

Lowest since June 2009 and  below a flash reading of 44.1 and June’s reading of 45.1

Final output down as well to 43.4 from  44.7 in June and a flash reading of 43.6. Final new orders also  down to 42.8 from flash of 42.9 and June’s reading of 43.5

Down from 45.0 in June and also down from flash read of 43.3.

Nudged up to 1.0529 recently after post Chinese PMI lows of  1.0464 in the Asian session and looks set to chew through offers ahead of the 1.0550 barrier.  Real money have been the main buyers over the last 24 hours.

EUR/AUD is again struggling to  bounce convincingly with the late Friday low of 1.1735 proving to be stubborn resistance on the upside for the cross.  There’s been some murmurs in the market that funds are again selling this pairing along with sovereigns.

EUR/AUD’s  now at a day’s low around 1.1704 with AUD/USD nudging the day’s high

From Flash reading of 43.6 and June’s final reading of 45.2

Now at lows last seen back in May 2009

Down from 44.6 in June and pretty much in line with Reuters’ median forecast of 44.2.

PARIS (MNI) – Despite dark clouds on the horizon, the French
government is sticking to its projection for 0.3% GDP growth this year,
Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said Wednesday.

In late June, the national statistics institute Insee forecast
another flat GDP reading for 2Q and a very gradual recovery of 0.1% in
3Q and 0.2% in 4Q, enough to assure an average annual gain of 0.4%.

Since then, however, business morale has deteriorated further,
dragging down Insee’s overall sentiment index to a 34-month low in July.
This suggests that even if a contraction in activity is averted in the
first half, the second is starting on weaker footing.

In a radio interview, Moscovici conceded that he was “worried”
about growth, but defended the government’s standing forecast as
“cautious” and raised hopes for an improvement in Eurozone prospects.

“What is happing in Europe – the light in the tunnel, the
reorientation of European construction, a Europe more concentrated on
growth – is very important,” he said.

The minister said that the government was not planning a hike in
the broad-based CSG tax on earnings and investment revenues for next
year’s budget.

However, he acknowledged that a CSG hike is “one option” in the
government’s strategy to make domestic producers “more competitive” by
reducing the business and labor taxes which current finance social
outlays.

–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; Email: stephen@marketnews.com.

[TOPICS: MFFBU$,M$F$$$,M$X$$$,MGX$$$]

LONDON ((MNI) – The Bank Of England said Wednesday it was offering
an unlimited supply of U.S. dollars in 7-day operations.

The settlement date on the 7-day op was August 2 maturing August 9
2012. The Bank said the repo would be at a fixed-rate, with the rate to
be set at 0.64%.

–London Bureau; Tel: +442076341655; email: ukeditorial@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$]

Quite a bit better than Reuter’s median forecast of 40.5.

Meanwhile,  manufacturing employment index 41.5 versus 41.8 in June, fastest rate of contraction since December 2009

EUR/USD extends rally to session high 1.2327.

TOKYO (MNI) – The Development Bank of Japan on Wednesday forecast
that combined investment in equipment by major firms in the domestic
market will rise 12.2% on year in fiscal 2012, highest since its +12.9%
projection for fiscal 2006.

This compares with the DBJ’s forecast for +7.3% for fiscal 2011
released about a year ago.

The actual capital investment in fiscal 2011 fell 2.1% on year,
posting the fourth straight yearly drop after -2.5% in fiscal 2010.

The bank forecast combined capex will fall 5.9% in fiscal 2013.

In fiscal 2012, manufacturers’ capital investment is expected to
rise 19.1%, compared with +8.6% for non-manufacturers, the bank said.

Carmakers will raise capex to meet growing demand for low-emission
vehicles while chemical firms plan to boost production capacity for
solar batteries, it said.

Among non-manufacturers, the transportation industry is expected to
enhance delivery systems and infrastructure while mobile phone carriers
are expanding relay stations for smartphone networks, said the DBJ.

Meanwhile, capital investment by Japanese firms in overseas markets
is forecast by the DBJ to rise 31.5% on year in fiscal 2012, with the
pace of growth decelerating from its fiscal 2011 projection for +49.2%
and the actual result of +42.2%

The bank releases its capital investment projections once a year by
surveying about 3,000 major firms capitalized at Y1 billion or above in
Japan.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4833 **

[TOPICS: M$J$$$,M$A$$$,MAJDS$,MT$$$$]

Not a lot of change from yesterday to be honest…

 EUR/USD: 1.2400

USD/JPY: 77.50

AUD/USD: 1.0550

EUR/GBP: 0.7750, 0.7875

USD/CAD 1.0000

BERLIN (MNI) – Greece will no have no alternative to leaving the
Eurozone if it gets no further fiscal aid, German Transport Minister
Peter Ramsauer said in an interview with German ARD public television on
Wednesday.

Ramsauer said Germany should stop contributing to the aid for
Greece if the IMF ends its help for the indebted country. “Then Greece
will likely have no other choice” but to leave the Eurozone, the
minister asserted.

He warned, though, not to expect that all problems will be resolved
once Greece has left the Eurozone.

Ramsauer is a member of the Bavarian CSU, the sister party of
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right CDU.

German Economics Minister Philipp Roesler told German ARD public
television last month that Greece will most likely not be able to meet
the goals agreed with its international lenders. “I want to say this
here very clearly: if Greece does not meet its obligations, there can be
no further payments to Greece,” he stressed.

In that case, Greece might come to the conclusion that it would be
better to leave the Eurozone, said Roesler, who is also vice chancellor
in Merkel’s government and head of the free market-orientated FDP, the
junior partner in the government coalition. “I think that for many
experts, for the FDP, and for me, a Greek exit from the Eurozone has
long since lost its horror,” he added.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$X$$$,MGX$$$,M$$CR$,M$G$$$,M$Y$$$,MFX$$$,MT$$$$]

Tagged on about 20 pips since I first sat down, presently at 1.2310.

Sources report US bank notable buyer of the EUR/JPY cross in recent trade, which has helped support EUR/USD. The cross is up at 96.20 from 95.85 when I arrived.

Back with EUR/USD, sell orders seen clustered 1.2320/30, buy stops through 1.2340.

UPDATE:  Just being told some buy stops through 1.2330 as well. So through 1.2330 AND 1.2340!!!    OOOOH I say, how exciting.