Final Day of May
May 31, 2022
U.S. share prices seem headed for a drop on this final day of May. The Nikkei closed down 0.3%, and the German Dax has fallen 0.9%. The dollar, however, has risen 0.3% on a a weighted basis, and a 9-basis point increase in the U.S. Treasury yield out-distances gains of five and three basis points in its German and British counterparts.
The relaxation of Covid curbs in China and European moves to end imports of Russian oil have sent the price of West Texas Intermediate crude up 3.2%. Gold is 0.3% softer.
There’s been a typically crowded calendar of reported data this final day of the month.
From Japan came news of a 25-month low in the jobless rate to 2.5%; A 1.3% drop in industrial production last month that compelled officials to downgrade the trade characterization to “pausing”; on-year rises of 2.2% and 30.5% in housing starts to a 3-month low and construction orders to an 11-month high; a 0.8% on-month and 2.9% on-year increase in retail sales; and a 3-month high reading in consumer confidence during May.
The government-authorized Chinese manufacturing PMI printed below 50 for a third straight month in May at 49.6 and non-manufacturing of 48.4. Both were above 26-month lows posted in April.
Italian GDP growth last quarter was revised from -0.2% reported initially to +0.1% and was associated with a 6.2% on-year advance.
French GDP fell 0.2% last quarter but rose 4.5% compared to the level a year earlier. French CPI inflation of 5.2% in May was the most since 3Q 1985, and PPI inflation climbed to 27.8% in April.
Hungarian PPI inflation of 28.8% in April was its highest this century.
Portuguese CPI inflation accelerated to a 351-month high of 8.2% in May.
Sri Lankan had record CPI inflation of 39.1% in May.
Belgian PPI inflation of 40.6% last month also constitutes a record high.
Mexican unemployment fell to a 25-month low in April of 3.0% versus 4.7% a year earlier.
Turkey’s trade deficit of $6.11 billion in April was the widens in 5 months, and the $32.5 billion deficit in January-April was more than double its year-earlier size.
Copyright 2022, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
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