Global manufacturing PMI's remain firm
FRANKFURT (Feb 21) Global manufacturing PMI's have been a bit of a mixed bag at the start of the week. The U.K., Australia, and France beat on expectations or previous readings but Japan, Germany, and Eurozone reading fell short. It does seem that with each new COVID-19 wave that each nation is starting to cope with the pandemic better. Obviously, supply chain issues are starting to get better but as demand improves price pressures still remain. ING Bank noted "Demand continues to soar for both services and manufacturing, with improvements from foreign and domestic buyers. This is also resulting in continued strong demand for employment in an already tight labor market. With a further easing of Covid restrictions underway, this puts upward pressure on our meager first-quarter GDP forecast."
In regards to the German reading which fell slightly short of expectations, Phil Smith, Economics Associate Director at IHS Markit said “The German economy continued to regain momentum in February following December’s brief stagnation in output growth. Overall activity rose the most since last August, driven this time by the services sector as manufacturing production increased more slowly than in January when it had provided the main impetus.”
He also added “Although goods production rose at a softer pace, data on new orders showed the fastest rise in six months. Moreover, supply chain pressures appeared to ease further as average lead times lengthened to the least extent since November 2020. Inflationary pressures remained strong, however.”
The U.S. and Canadian markets are closed today due to public holidays but we will get some U.S. readings tomorrow. The U.S. reading is expected to reach 56.0 just slightly better than the previous 55.5.
Australian Manufacturing PMI 57.6 vs prev 55.1
Japanese Manufacturing PMI (Feb) 52.9 vs prev 55.4.
French Manufacturing PMI (Feb) 57.6 vs exp 55.5 prev 55.5
German Manufacturing PMI (Feb) 58.5 vs exp 59.5 prev 59.8
Manufacturing PMI (Feb) 57.3 vs exp 57.2 prev 57.3
Eurozone Manufacturing PMI (Feb) 58.4 vs exp 58.7 prev 58.7.
KITCO
