Asia stocks fell on continued concerns about EU sovereign debt and numbers that showed China’s manufacturing sector contracted.
The Nikkei 225 was down 1.66% to 8,377. The Hang Seng was down 1.78% to 18,027. China’s manufacturing sector continued a decline in December according to numbers from HSBC.
At the open in Europe, the DAX was up .73% to 5,721. The FTSE 100 was higher by .46% to 5,391.
Germany PMI data for December rose to 48.1 from 47.9 in November.
There is an increasing sense that Germany has become decoupled from the balance of the EU economies as its manufacturing, export, and GDP continue to grow slowly. At the same time, there are economic contractions in the southern European nations of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France. This leads to greater concern that Germany will be able to dictate terms to any bailouts because it is likely to be the largest supplier of money for such actions.