We recently published an article discussing how weak public sector demand is affecting Cisco.
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That buoyancy was short-lived, and the latest figures show a weak manufacturing sector, low business confidence and investment, disappointing retail sales, rising unemployment and even some decline in consumer confidence.
Credit card and processing companies appear attractive in the face of a weak financial sector, with major banks like JPMorgan Chase and Citi down 20% and 31% this year.
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Job growth in the private sector is weak, and public-sector jobs are disappearing.
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It also reports weak service and manufacturing sector activity, and falling prices in weak housing markets.
The weak private-sector spending counteracted a big round of stimulus spending unleashed by the government, including tax cuts for businesses.
Also, the precious metals on this day have decided to follow the weak raw commodity sector, which is pressured by the risk aversion in the market place Wednesday.
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The latest weak eurozone services sector data did little to improve stock market sentiment, already hit by the indication overnight that the US Federal Reserve is not considering a further round of quantitative easing (QE) to help boost the American economy.
After a weak ADP private sector reading and indications the slowing manufacturing and consumption, along with the sequester, could weigh on the economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed nonfarm payrolls rose by 165, 000 in April, while the February and March numbers were upwardly revised by 114, 000, as my colleague Abram Brown reported.
The private sector showed weak job growth, with only 41, 000 jobs created.
In fact, standard domestic beer has been the weak spot in the sector, with experts noting a 50% sales drop between 2007 and 2010.
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However, the more is tries, the deeper in debt it goes, and as long as the private sector remains weak, tax revenues will suffer.
"(The economy) still looks slightly weak and the services sector growth, in particular, is weaker than survey evidence would suggest, " said David Page of Investec.
Either Greece's relatively weak and small private sector has to be supercharged such that it starts generating current account surpluses that would allow the country to service the enormous debts - which seems unlikely to happen any time soon.
Household spending has flattened out, investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector remains depressed.
Among other factors, the company saw weak demand from the government sector, and a drop in its consumer business.
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But shame and beauty contests are still weak forces in the public sector.
Gartner thinks demand from the memory sector will remain weak through 2013.
The recent increase in government borrowing may not be cause to panic in the short term so long as private-sector demand is weak.
Healthcare sales fell at an underlying rate of 1% from a year earlier, while overall lighting sales were flat due to weak demand from the construction sector.
In the financial sector, despite weak trading volume in Q2, results are likely to top consensus expectations on improving credit quality and large releases from loan loss reserves.
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Of course, the problem is that this downturn started with the banks, so this round of write-downs comes at a time when the sector is already weak and needs government guarantees in order to raise new capital.
Despite a slow start, there is now a clear track record of policy action in Spain which encompasses not only fiscal consolidation but also labor market and pension reforms as well as recapitalization of the weak parts of the banking sector.
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Certainly, the figures suggest that even in a weak recovery, the private sector has had no trouble absorbing a significant fall in the number of public sector jobs, which has actually outpaced the official forecast, with a fall of 143, 000 in public sector employment since last spring.
The signs of weak business conditions in the chip sector continue to mount.
There are hopes that as shipments to key markets recover and the yen continues to remain weak, Japan's export sector may see a sustained recovery.
The performance of the manufacturing sector has also been weak.
Earlier this month, Applied Materials warned that revenues for its fiscal fourth quarter ending in October will be down 25%-40% sequentially, with particularly weak demand from the chip foundry sector.
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Normally a country would respond to a weakening of its currency by increasing exports, but in an economy ravaged by Dutch Disease there is little immediate ability to increase exports because the manufacturing sector has become so weak and withered and the country so dependent on imports.
He says the sector has been hurt buy weak flat-panel TV demand, especially in China.
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