FRANKFURT: As Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. travels through Europe this week, he wants to reassure jittery audiences that the United States will right its economy and its financial markets. But with both sides of the Atlantic now suffering from a similar combination of sagging growth, rising inflation and shaky banks, Paulson's visit is turning into a case of misery loves company. "There's no doubt that the second quarter will be a tough quarter," Paulson said during an interview after meeting with the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet. "There's no doubt in any of our minds that the high oil prices are going to have an impact." The meeting in Frankfurt came on a day when the European economy, which had recently been more resilient than that of the United States, began showing signs of an American-style slump. Manufacturing activity in the 15 countries that use the euro shrank in June for the first time in three years, according to an influential survey of purchasing managers released Tuesday.
FRANKFURT: As Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. travels through Europe this week, he wants to reassure jittery audiences that the United States will right its economy and its financial markets.
But with both sides of the Atlantic now suffering from a similar combination of sagging growth, rising inflation and shaky banks, Paulson's visit is turning into a case of misery loves company.
"There's no doubt that the second quarter will be a tough quarter," Paulson said during an interview after meeting with the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet. "There's no doubt in any of our minds that the high oil prices are going to have an impact."
The meeting in Frankfurt came on a day when the European economy, which had recently been more resilient than that of the United States, began showing signs of an American-style slump.
Manufacturing activity in the 15 countries that use the euro shrank in June for the first time in three years, according to an influential survey of purchasing managers released Tuesday.
with both sides of the Atlantic now suffering from a similar combination of sagging growth, rising inflation and shaky banks,
Last quarter growth, on a yearly rythm: Germany 6%, USA 1% Shaky banks: the European banks with the most spectacular losses are Swiss or British. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
