Global Manufacturing Inches Back Into Expansion, Despite Ongoing Slump In Export Orders

Good news, world! Global manufacturing – according to JPMorgan  – is back in expansion in November, rising to 50.3, a seven-month high.

Output and new orders saw marginal gains, while the trend in employment stabilised after job cuts in the prior six months.

International trade remained a drag on the sector, however, as new export business decreased for the fifteenth successive month.

Eleven of the nations for which November PMI data were available registered expansions, with the strongest growth signalled for Greece, Colombia and Brazil. The USA, China and France were also among the nations seeing an improvement. Germany and the Czech Republic remained at the bottom of the growth rankings.

Business optimism stayed relatively subdued in November, continuing the recent trend of lacklustre confidence. The lowest readings for the Future Output Index (which was first compiled in July 2012) have all been recorded during the past seven months.

Finally, we note that global stocks have perhaps front-run this modest rebound just a little too much on the heels of a year of printing money dangerously…

Source: Bloomberg

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