How the received wisdom of the marketplace no longer holds true
Macroeconomics
After the excitement of the previous weeks, things were more settled during the period under review. Of the usual round of financial data, nothing really stood out and any changes that did occur were only small.
The outlook for the world economy remains gloomy and many of the 'experts' who until recently were trying to talk the situation up have revised their outlook accordingly. (On this basis, it would not be a surprise if things started to pick up again, but that's economists for you!).
The stock markets were more settled, rallying quite decently from the lows seen early August. Interest rates meanwhile remained settled in both the euro zone and the USA.
Probably the most important factor was the series of weather catastrophes seen around the globe. China, Argentina and South Eastern Europe plus Germany all suffered severe floods and the impact on the local retail and investment climates is
likely to be significant. The Euro also weakened against most forecasts, making European exports once more attractive.
Market Intelligence
It wasn't just the financial markets that were very quiet. So too was the hide and skin world. While the European holiday season continued, the USA and other markets were much less exciting than in the previous weeks. All things being equal, one might have expected this to result in falling prices. But what we saw was quite the opposite.
While US prices remained at the upper end of our expectations, those in Europe held steady with lighter weight material that had been difficult to shift at the beginning of the holiday season being absorbed very nicely, leading to the market entering a period of almost perfect equilibrium.
