PMIs
An Outsized Interest Rate Cut by Australia’s Central Bank
May 1, 2012
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s Official Cash Rate was slashed by 50 basis points to 3.75%, twice the expected reduction. The Aussie dollar and kiwi in response fell by 1.1% and 0.7% against the greenback. The U.S. dollar otherwise rose 0.2% against sterling and 0.1% versus the yen and yuan while edging down 0.2% against [...] More
Risk Aversion Fanned by Preliminary March PMI Readings
March 22, 2012
In Europe, share prices have tumbled 1.5% in Paris, 1.4% in Germany, and 0.9% in Britain. There were some big tumbles in the Pacific Rim including drops of 1.4% in Thailand, 2.3% in India, and 0.9% in Singapore. But equities rose 1.0% in Taiwan, 0.5% in Australia and 0.4% in Japan. Chinese stocks dipped 0.2%. [...] More
Better-than-Expected PMI Scores in Most Cases
February 1, 2012
Investors started February in a good mood, bidding up stocks and commodities. The catalysts for this guarded optimism were Most manufacturing purchasing manager indices suggested that European recessionary forces may be lessening. Rumors of further progress in hammering out a bailout deal for Greece. Lessening pressure on Portuguese sovereign debt. Some upside surprises in other [...] More
Slightly Softer Dollar on Final Trading Day of 2011
December 30, 2011
The dollar depreciated overnight by 0.3% against the yen and both Aussie and New Zealand dollars. It also eased 0.1% against the Swiss franc and was fixed in China at CNY 6.3009, its softest fixing since the July 21, 2005 revaluation of the yuan. However, the greenback edged 0.1% higher against the euro and appears [...] More
Considerable Quantity of New Data to Absorb
December 15, 2011
At the quarterly monetary policy review, the Swiss National Bank did not adopt a weaker franc/euro ceiling rate but instead retained the 1.2000 level, which has been policy since September 6. The franc as a result is today’s strongest currency, rising 1.0% against the dollar. SNB officials also retained a zero-0.25% target range for three-month [...] More
Sobering Perceptions After Yesterday’s Euphoria
December 1, 2011
Investors now see yesterday’s concerted central bank actions as the non-panacea that it was. ECB President Draghi called the move a “limited action” to ensure that monetary policy gets transmitted. He also reiterated the view that the main responsibility lies with governments in Europe that must move to a more unified single fiscal policy. The [...] More
Wider U.S. Advantage over Euroland in PMI Service Readings
September 6, 2011
The U.S. minus Euroland service sector purchasing managers differential widened to 1.8 points in August from 1.1 points in July and minus 3.9 points in April. The U.S. score unexpectedly rose 0.6 to 53.3, signifying faster growth than in July. The sum of the manufacturing and services PMIs was +3.4 in August, constituting a 5.9-point [...] More
New Month… Same Worrisome News
September 1, 2011
Euroland purchasing managers index for August in manufacturing was revised to 49.0 from 49.7 preliminary indication and July reading of 50.4. Result elicits warning that regional economy could enter recession before yearend. Germany PMI was revised to 50.9 from 52.0, and the French index of 49.1 was marked down from 49.3. Italy’s index slumped 3.1 [...] More
Dollar Eased as Overnight Data Came in Mixed
August 23, 2011
The dollar lost 0.8% against the yen, 0.4% relative to the New Zealand and Canadian dollars, 0.3% versus the euro, and 0.2% against the Swissie and Aussie dollar. The U.S. currency is unchanged against the yuan and sterling. Stocks are mostly higher with gains of 3.9% in South Korea, 3.3% in Taiwan, 2.2% in Australia, [...] More
U.S.-Ezone Manufacturing Spread Swings Sharply in America’s favor
July 1, 2011
In June, the U.S. factory purchasing managers index climbed 1.8 points to 55.3, while its Euroland counterpart weakened by 2.6 points to 52.0. U.S. manufacturing thus grew faster than Euroland’s for the eighth time in the last nine months, the one exception occurring in May when the latter index surpassed the U.S. gauge by 1.1 [...] More
