An April Setback to Recent Convergence of U.S. and Eurozone Economies

May 6, 2015

Four four straight months between November through March, the manufacturing and service-sector purchasing manager differentials of the United States and Euroland had diminished, but each widened last month.  In manufacturing, whose PMI spread had swung from +7.5 points to -0.7 points, April’s reversal in trend was very marginal to -0.5 points.  But in services, the spread rose 1.4 points to +3.7 points as the U.S. PMI improved 1.3 points to a 5-month high of 57.8, while its eurozone counterpart edged 0.1 point lower to a 2-month low of 54.1.

In the U.S. report, business activity/production rose 4.1 points to 61.6, while new business improved 1.4 points to 59.2.  Prices fell 2.3 points in April, and jobs were barely changed from the prior month’s score. 

Service-sector PMI readings in the eurozone ranged from 60.6 in Ireland to 603 in Spain, 54.0 in Germany, 53.1 in Italy and 51.4 in France.  Spain’s score was at a 101-month high, while Ireland’s was at a 14-month low.  The eurozone data seem to imply GDP trending upward at about a 0.4% quarterly pace at the start of the second quarter.  The data also reveal lessening downward pressure on prices.

PMIs U.S. Ezone   U.S. Ezone   Sum of
  Services Services Spread Mf’g Mf’g Spread Spreads
Jan 2012 56.8 50.4 +6.4 54.1 48.8 +5.3 +10.9
Feb 56.1 48.8 +7.3 51.9 49.0 +2.9 +10.2
March 55.0 49.2 +5.8 53.3 47.7 +5.6 +11.4
April 53.7 46.9 +6.8 54.1 45.9 +8.2 +15.0
May 54.1 46.7 +7.4 52.5 45.1 +7.4 +14.8
June 52.7 47.1 +5.6 50.2 45.1 +5.1 +10.7
July 52.9 47.9 +5.0 50.5 44.0 +6.5 +11.5
August 54.3 47.2 +7.1 50.7 45.1 +5.6 +12.7
Sept 55.2 46.1 +9.1 51.6 46.1 +5.5 +14.6
October 54.8 46.0 +8.8 51.7 45.4 +6.3 +15.1
November 54.8 46.7 +8.1 49.9 46.2 +3.7 +11.8
December 55.7 47.8 +7.9 50.2 46.1 +4.1 +12.0
Jan 2013 55.2 48.6 +6.6 53.1 47.9 +5.2 +11.8
February 54.8 47.9 +8.1 53.1 47.9 +5.2 +13.3
March 54.5 46.4 +8.1 51.5 46.8 +4.7 +12.8
April 53.8 47.0 +6.8 50.0 46.7 +3.3 +10.1
May 54.0 47.2 +6.8 50.0 48.3 +1.7 +8.5
June 53.4 48.3 +5.1 52.5 48.8 +3.7 +8.8
July 55.9 49.8 +6.1 54.9 50.3 +4.6 +10.7
August 57.9 50.7 +7.2 56.3 51.4 +4.9 +12.1
Sept 54.5 52.2 +2.3 56.0 51.1 +4.9 +7.2
October 55.1 51.6 +3.5 56.6 51.3 +5.3 +8.8
November 54.1 51.2 +2.9 57.0 51.6 +5.4 +8.3
December 53.0 51.0 +2.0 56.5 52.7 +3.8 +5.8
Jan 2014 54.0 51.6 +2.4 51.3 54.0 -2.7 -0.3
February 52.5 52.6 -0.1 54.3 53.2 +1.1 +1.0
March 53.7 52.1 +1.6 54.4 53.0 +1.4 +3.0
April 55.3 53.1 +2.2 55.3 53.4 +1.9 +4.1
May 56.1 53.2 +2.9 55.6 52.2 +3.4 +6.3
June 56.3 52.8 +3.5 55.7 51.8 +3.9 +7.4
July 57.9 54.2 +3.7 56.4 51.8 +4.6 +8.3
August 58.6 53.1 +5.5 58.1 50.7 +7.4 +12.9
Sept 58.1 52.4 +5.7 56.1 50.3 +5.8 +11.5
October 56.9 52.1 +4.8 57.9 50.6 +7.3 +12.1
November 58.8 51.1 +7.7 57.6 50.1 +7.5 +15.2
December 56.5 51.6 +4.9 55.1 50.6 +4.5 +9.4
Jan 2015 56.7 52.7 +4.0 53.5 51.0 +2.5 +6.5
February 56.9 53.7 +3.2 52.9 51.0 +1.9 +5.1
March 56.5 54.2 +2.3 51.5 52.2 -0.7 +1.6
April 57.8 54.1 +3.7 51.5 52.0 -0.5 +3.2

Copyright 2015, Larry Greenberg.  All rights reserved.  No secondary distribution without express permission.

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