Greenback indefinitely had a wave of risk aversion not leveraged the currency’s battered safe haven appeal. As the day wore on, data from China, Australia, Japan, the Euro Zone and the United Kingdom reflected a slowing in factory activity that seems to be reflecting a downshift in global growth. The concern was nagging; but fear that a serious economic slump could be in the works didn’t really set in until the US ISM manufacturing activity survey for July crossed the wires. The 50.9 reading was a substantial miss (below even the lowest economist forecast from Bloomberg) and threatened the primary source of growth the US economy has drawn from since the recovery was established back in 2009. In turn, the S&P 500 Index would turn a remarkable bullish gap on the open into an eventual 2.5 percent retracement through the first half of the day.
The ISM indicator, along with the other manufacturing readings from the around the world, are an important reminder that economic activity is cooling. The feeble health of the developed world’s consumer is finally meeting the global shift towards austerity (China, Euro Zone, UK). That leaves the US in a unique position: either join the stimulus withdrawal and suffer the economic slowdown; or pursue financial responsibility and potentially turn a slowdown into a double dip recession. This is another layer of complication to the deficit debate at hand. According to the original timeline; the window is supposed to close by the coming session. That said, it seems that the revised two-stage program that has garnered support from Congressional leaders and already passed the House looks to have a good chance of making it all the way through. Yet, it is still under heavy debate as to whether the planned cuts would be enough to prevent a downgrade by the major credit rating agencies. Such an outcome would surely be dollar negative. Though if this effort tips the global economy, there could be a redeeming value to the greenback.
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