New Woes for Crypto… Service Sector Purchasing Manager Surveys Beat Expectations
March 3, 2023
The price of Bitcoin tokens plunged around 5% overnight.
The dollar has declined 0.4% against the Swiss franc and yen, 0.3% versus sterling and the Australian dollar, but just 0.1% relative to the euro.
It’s been an up day by and large for equities, with gains of 1.6% in Japan, 1.5% in India, 0.7% in Hong Kong and Australia, and 05% in China. The German Dax and Paris CAC are 0.9% and 0.7% higher, and U.S. stock futures show modest gains.
WTI oil has slid 0.3%, and gold edged 0.1% higher.
A 7.4% monthly dive in energy producer prices in the euro area during January outweighed accelerated gains in all other items of the bloc’s producer price index, resulting in a 2.8% month-on-month PPI decline and a big drop in the PPI’s overall 12-month increase to 15.0% from 24.5% in December and 43.4% last August. On-year growth in energy producer prices imploded from 117% last August to 20.5% in January.
Turkish consumer price inflation slowed to a 1-year low of 55.2% in February from 57.7% in January and a 3-decade high of 85.5% last October. Turkish PPI inflation of 76.6% last month was its lowest in fifteen months and down from a record high of 157.7% last October.
Tokyo core consumer price inflation, which includes energy but not perishable food, dropped back to a 5-month low of 3.3% in February from a 42-year peak of 4.3% in January. Excluding fresh food and energy, however, the inflation rate rose to a 378-month high of 3.2%.
Cypriot CPI inflation of 6.7% in January was a one-year low and down from a 503-month high of 10.9% last July.
Brazilian PPI inflation of 2.2% in January was only a tenth as much as last February’s reading of 20%.
Fourth quarter-over-third quarter Irish GDP growth has been reestimated at just 0.3%, down from an initial estimate of 3.5%. Nonetheless, GDP was still 12.0% above its year earlier level.
Italian GDP dipped 0.1% on quarter and slowed to 1.4% on year in 4Q 2022, yielding a full-2022 growth rate of 3.7% after 7.0% in 2021.
French industrial production had been expected to show scant change, up or down, in January but instead sank 1.9% on month and 2.2% on year.
The German unadjusted trade surplus of EUR 10.8 billion was twice its year-earlier size. The seasonally adjusted surplus widened to EUR 16.7 billion from EUR 10.0 billion in December, EUR 9.4 billion per month in 4Q 2022 and EUR 6.6 billion per month on average in all of 2022. January’s surplus was even a tad larger than the 2021 average surplus.
Japan’s unemployment rate of 2.4% in January was the lowest in 35 months but just 0.1 percentage point less than in December.
Many February purchasing manager survey results were reported today.
South Africa‘s private PMI rose 1.8 points to an above-50 reading of 50.5, signalling a return to positive growth.
Hong Kong‘s private PMI of 53.9 put business conditions at a 9-month high and input price inflation at a 4-month low.
Lebanon‘s private PMI improved 1.1 points to a 4-month high but still below the 50 threshold at 48.8.
Singapore‘s private PMI fell 1.6 points to 49.6, its second sub-50 score in three months.
Japan‘s service sector PMI rose to an 8-month high of 54.0 and helped lift the composite PMI score to a 4-month high of 51.7, thus clearing 50 for a third straight month.
China‘s services PMI (a 6-month high of 55.0) and composite PMI reading (a 3-month high of 54.2) beat expectations and reflected the country’s relaxation of Covid restrictions.
In India, the service sector PMI advanced from to a 12-year high of 59.4, resulting in a 2-month high of the composite PMI index (59.0).
Russia‘s composite and service sector PMIs — a 20-month high of 53.1 and a 7-month high of 53.1 — revealed a bigger leap out of contracting territory than analysts were anticipating.
Alternatively, Sweden’s service sector purchasing managers index printed below the 50-threshold for the first time since the early months of Covid, scoring 45.7 in February versus 50.6 in January and 56.6 last October.
Euroland’s composite PMI, although revised marginally lower from its preliminary estimate, was at an 8-month high of 52.0 and included nine-month highs in Spain, Ireland and Italy, an 8-month high in Germany and a 7-month high in France. All those readings surpassed the 50 threshold.
Euroland’s service sector PMI also represented an 8-month high (52.7), with a 10-month Spanish high, a 9-month Irish high, 8-month highs in Germany and Italy and a 7-month high in France. Business optimism regarding the one-year outlook improved to a 10-month high in the euro area as a whole.
The British composite and service sector PMI readings of 53.1 and 53.5 were at 8-month highs.
But Brazil‘s service sector PMI reading of 49.8 was below 50 for the first time in 21 months and down from a record high of 60.6 last April. That depressed Brazil’s composite PMI to a 2-month low and, at 49.8, below the 50 threshold for a fourth straight time.
Copyright 2023, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: Euroland PPI, German trade balance, Service-sector purchasing manager surveys, Turkey CPI and PPI
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