How sensitive are German companies to a fall in the dollar?
Frankfurter Allgemeine has an interesting analysis showing that German companies are not nearly as badly affected by a falling dollar exchange rate as they used to be because of improved competitiveness and a rise in importance of east Europe and the Middle East as export markets. German companies listed in the Dax index, on average, make 17% of their turnover in North-America, but this is same as in Asia/East Europe. There is a calculation from analyst who concluded that even an exchange rate of $1.65 would have little effect on profits. Another point is that German companies are likely to react more sensitively to the fall in global growth than to pure exchange rate effects. Siemens corruption scandal gets worse The Siemens corruption scandal is a lot worse than originally reported, much broader and deeper. Yesterday, another board member resigned, Erich Reinhardt, who only rose to the board after the company’s reorganisation, and who resigned after an internal investigation found th
