Wall Street History

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Wall Street History

05/25/2012

GDP...Defense Spending...Oil Demand/Production

Selected growth rates of GDP in Europe

Q4 2011…Q1 2012 (percentage change compared with previous qtr.)

Eurozone 17… -0.3 [Q4] … 0.0 [Q1]
EU 27…   -0.3 … 0.0

Austria… 0.0 … 0.2
Czech Republic… -0.1 … -1.0
Finland… 0.3 … 1.3
France… 0.1 … 0.0
Germany… -0.2 … 0.5
Italy… -0.7 … -0.8
Netherlands… -0.7 … -0.2
Portugal… -1.3 … -0.1
Spain… -0.3 … -0.3
United Kingdom… -0.3 … -0.2

*Quarterly data in this fashion isn’t available for Greece, and Ireland’s isn’t in for Q1 yet.

United States… 0.7 … 0.5 [don’t be confused; flash numbers you see on U.S. GDP are year-over-year, not quarter-over-quarter as most of the rest of the world puts out]

Defense Spending…Top 10 spenders ($billions)…share of GDP (2011)

1. United States… $711 … 4.7%
2. China… $143* … 2.0*
3. Russia… 71.9* … 3.9*
4. Britain… 62.7 … 2.6
5. France… 62.5 … 2.3
6. Japan… 59.3 … 1.0
7. India… 48.9 … 2.6
8. Saudi Arabia… 48.5 … 8.7
9. Germany… 46.7* … 1.3*
10. Brazil… 35.4 … 1.5

The U.S., Britain, France, India, Germany and Brazil all cut defense spending over 2010 levels. China, up 6.7%, and Russia, up 9.3%, significantly increased spending.

Heavily indebted European states such as Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland saw 2011 reductions average 7%.

For the period 2002-2011, China increased defense spending 170%, while the United States hiked theirs 59% and Russia’s expenditures rose 79%.

OPEC / World Oil Demand-Production

North America…23.77…23.50… -1.11%
Western Europe…14.58…14.27… -2.17
China…8.95…9.41… +5.12

North America…23.41… -0.42%
Western Europe…14.01… -1.83
China…9.81… +4.25

Iran…3.706…3.621…3.196 [sanctions biting]
Iraq…2.401…2.667…3.025
Kuwait…2.297…2.537…2.757
Saudi Arabia…8.271…9.268…9.897

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