Manufacturing in The United States and Euro Area Diverges Significantly Further
April 2, 2012
The U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers index rose a whole point to 53.4 last month, led by an increase in production of 3.0 points to 58.3 and 2.9-point improvement in jobs to a score of 56.1. In the euro area, by contrast, the PMI measure dropped 1.3 points to 47.7, with production sliding 1.5 points to 48.8. The U.S. measure reached a nine-month high, while Euroland’s index was its weakest since December. The differential between the two indices widened to 5.7 points from 3.4 points in February. Aside from spreads of 5.8 points in November and 6.2 points in December, the 5.7-point width last month was the most since at least the start of 2008.
In most the euro area members including Germany, France, Italy and Spain, manufacturing contracted last month. The French index of 46.7 represented a 33-month low, and the Greek and Spanish indices were below 45, signifying a substantial rate of decline.
Mfg PMIs | U.S. | Euroland | Spread | EUR/USD |
Feb 2008 | 47.6 | 52.3 | -4.7 | 1.475 |
March | 48.3 | 52.0 | -3.7 | 1.553 |
April | 48.8 | 50.7 | -1.9 | 1.574 |
May | 49.8 | 50.6 | -0.8 | 1.555 |
June | 50.0 | 49.2 | +0.8 | 1.557 |
July | 49.2 | 47.4 | +1.8 | 1.577 |
August | 44.8 | 47.6 | -2.8 | 1.497 |
September | 44.8 | 45.0 | -0.2 | 1.437 |
October | 38.9 | 41.1 | -2.2 | 1.331 |
November | 36.5 | 35.6 | +0.9 | 1.268 |
December | 33.1 | 33.9 | -0.8 | 1.351 |
Jan 2009 | 34.9 | 34.4 | +0.5 | 1.326 |
February | 35.6 | 33.5 | +2.1 | 1.303 |
March | 36.0 | 33.9 | +2.1 | 1.306 |
April | 39.8 | 36.8 | +3.0 | 1.318 |
May | 42.0 | 40.7 | +1.3 | 1.365 |
June | 45.8 | 42.6 | +3.2 | 1.401 |
July | 49.2 | 46.3 | +2.9 | 1.409 |
August | 53.5 | 48.2 | +5.3 | 1.426 |
September | 54.2 | 49.3 | +4.9 | 1.455 |
October | 53.9 | 50.7 | +3.2 | 1.489 |
November | 54.3 | 51.2 | +3.1 | 1.491 |
December | 55.8 | 51.6 | +4.2 | 1.459 |
Jan 2010 | 56.7 | 52.4 | +4.3 | 1.409 |
February | 55.8 | 54.2 | +3.6 | 1.368 |
March | 59.3 | 56.6 | +2.7 | 1.356 |
April | 59.0 | 57.6 | +1.4 | 1.342 |
May | 58.8 | 55.8 | +3.0 | 1.255 |
June | 56.0 | 55.6 | +0.4 | 1.220 |
July | 55.7 | 56.7 | -1.0 | 1.278 |
August | 57.4 | 55.1 | +2.3 | 1.288 |
September | 56.4 | 53.7 | +2.7 | 1.308 |
October | 57.0 | 54.6 | +2.4 | 1.389 |
November | 58.0 | 55.3 | +2.7 | 1.368 |
December | 57.3 | 57.1 | +0.2 | 1.323 |
Jan 2011 | 59.9 | 57.3 | +2.6 | 1.337 |
February | 59.8 | 59.0 | +0.8 | 1.365 |
March | 59.7 | 57.5 | + 1.7 | 1.400 |
April | 59.7 | 58.0 | +1.7 | 1.445 |
May | 54.2 | 54.6 | -0.4 | 1.433 |
June | 55.8 | 52.0 | +3.8 | 1.438 |
July | 51.4 | 50.4 | +1.0 | 1.423 |
August | 52.5 | 49.0 | +3.5 | 1.435 |
September | 52.5 | 48.5 | +4.0 | 1.377 |
October | 51.8 | 47.1 | +4.7 | 1.371 |
November | 52.2 | 46.4 | +5.8 | 1.356 |
December | 53.1 | 46.9 | +6.2 | 1.316 |
January | 54.1 | 48.8 | +5.3 | 1.290 |
February | 52.4 | 49.0 | +3.4 | 1.323 |
March | 53.4 | 47.7 | +5.7 | 1.320 |
Copyright 2011, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: U.S. and euro area manufacturing purchasing managers indices