Flash PMI round up ahead of the U.S. open
LONDON (Apr 22) Today has been flash PMI day in the major nations over the world and it has been a pretty mixed bag. Manufacturing PMI in Europe beat expectations of 54.7 to print at 55.3. The report said Eurozone economic growth accelerated in April as a rebounding service sector, benefitting from loosened COVID-19 restrictions, helped compensate for a near stalling of manufacturing output. In addition to this, employment (hiring) picked up and business expectations increased from extremely low levels which was a bonus.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global noted "April saw a two-speed eurozone economy. Manufacturing came close to stalling due to ongoing supply constraints, rising prices, and signs of spending being hit by risk aversion due to the war. However, April also saw manufacturers suffer due to a shift in demand from goods to services amid looser pandemic restrictions, most notably via a record surge in spending on activities such as travel and recreation."
It was not all good news in Europe as the German report noted the latest ‘flash’ PMI® data from S&P Global signaled a downturn in manufacturing production across Germany in April amid reports of severe supply disruption and a drop in demand for goods.
In the UK, although manufacturing numbers beat estimates the focus seems to be on the services number which disappointed. GBP/USD is 1.23% lower on the session as the services figure came in at 58.3 vs the expected figure of 60. The report said “High prices and the associated rising cost of living were often cited as a principal cause of lower demand, with covid also continuing to affect many businesses. Brexit and transport delays were seen as having further impeded export sales, while the Ukraine war and Russian sanctions also led to lost overseas trade.”
Later in the session, the market will look forward to the U.S. figure which is expected to print at 58.2.
Australian Manufacturing PMI 57.9 vs prev 57.7
Japanese Manufacturing PMI (Apr) 53.4 vs prev 54.1
French Manufacturing PMI (Apr) 55.4 vs exp 53.0 prev 54.7
German Manufacturing PMI (Apr) 54.1 vs exp 54.5 prev 56.9
EZ Manufacturing PMI (Apr) 55.3 vs exp 54.7 prev 56.5
U.K. Manufacturing PMI 55.3 vs exp 59.0 prev 55.2.
KITCO
