Improved Pace of U.S. Manufacturing Not Matched in Euro Area
August 1, 2014
While Euroland’s manufacturing purchasing managers index stagnated at 51.8, signifying a low and unchanging pace of activity as the third quarter began, the U.S. manufacturing PMI advanced 1.8 points to 57.1. Bear in mind that Euroland’s PMI is compiled by Markit Economics, while the U.S. index is prepared by the Institute of Supply Management. Recently, Markit Economics developed its own proprietary U.S. PMI, but I intend to keep using the ISM index so that I have much more history available for comparing the two economies. Be that as it may, the Markit Economics data were not consistent even in trend with the ISM series in July. The Markit index declined 1.5 points month on month, whereas the ISM index climbed 1.8 points as noted above. The spread between the Ezone index and the U.S. index widened from 3.5 points in June to 5.3 points in July, which was the biggest U.S. advantage since November. The average value of the euro vis-a-vis the dollar fell for a third straight month.
Among U.S. sub-indices in July, orders and jobs went up by 4.5 points and 5.4 points, but prices and output also posted gains of more than a full point.
Among Euroland members, the results were mixed. The indices of Italy, Spain, France, and Greece were lower in July than June, and the Greek and French indices were below 50.0, which signifies contraction. The indices of Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Austria all increases, and all of them were above 50.
| Mfg PMIs | U.S. | Euroland | Spread | EUR/USD |
| Jan 2012 | 54.1 | 48.8 | +5.3 | 1.290 |
| February | 51.9 | 49.0 | +2.9 | 1.323 |
| March | 53.3 | 47.7 | +5.6 | 1.320 |
| April | 54.1 | 45.9 | +8.2 | 1.315 |
| May | 52.5 | 45.1 | +7.4 | 1.280 |
| June | 50.2 | 45.1 | +5.1 | 1.254 |
| July | 50.5 | 44.0 | +6.5 | 1.230 |
| August | 50.7 | 45.1 | +5.6 | 1.255 |
| September | 51.6 | 46.1 | +5.5 | 1.286 |
| October | 51.7 | 45.4 | +6.3 | 1.297 |
| November | 49.9 | 46.2 | +3.7 | 1.283 |
| December | 50.2 | 46.1 | +4.1 | 1.313 |
| Jan 2013 | 53.1 | 47.9 | +5.2 | 1.330 |
| February | 53.1 | 47.9 | +5.2 | 1.334 |
| March | 51.5 | 46.8 | +4.7 | 1.295 |
| April | 50.0 | 46.7 | +3.3 | 1.301 |
| May | 50.0 | 48.3 | +1.7 | 1.299 |
| June | 52.5 | 48.8 | +3.7 | 1.319 |
| July | 54.9 | 50.3 | +4.6 | 1.309 |
| August | 56.3 | 51.4 | +4.9 | 1.331 |
| September | 56.0 | 51.1 | +4.9 | 1.335 |
| October | 56.6 | 51.3 | +5.3 | 1.364 |
| November | 57.0 | 51.6 | +5.4 | 1.349 |
| December | 56.5 | 52.7 | +3.8 | 1.370 |
| Jan 2014 | 51.3 | 54.0 | -2.7 | 1.361 |
| February | 53.2 | 53.2 | 0.0 | 1.366 |
| March | 53.7 | 53.0 | +0.7 | 1.380 |
| April | 54.9 | 53.4 | +1.5 | 1.380 |
| May | 55.4 | 52.2 | +3.2 | 1.374 |
| June | 55.3 | 51.8 | +3.5 | 1.360 |
| July | 57.1 | 51.8 | +5.3 | 1.354 |
Copyright 2014, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: PMIs manufacturing
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