Some surprisingly decent manufacturing data has been release this morning, for both the UK and Europe. The purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) for May, which survey a cross-section of companies on their business in the sector to provide an indication of activity in the sector, showed improvement in Spain, Italy and France, as well as in the Eurozone as a whole.
A value of below 50 indicates contraction in the sector, while a value of above 50 indicates expansion; the magnitude of the difference reflects the speed of the change. So a rise from 45 to 48, for instance, would represent a sector still contracting, but doing so slower than it had been before.
In the UK, the sector looks to be growing at the faster rate for 14 months, with a value of 51.3. The both exports and domestic orders contributed, although the latter was the main driver.
UK manufacturing PMI
In Spain, the PMI hit a two-year high, of 48.1; in Italy, it hit a four-month high of 47.3; and in France, it reached a 13-month high of 46.4. All of those values still represent contraction, but contraction at a slower rate than there has been for a while. Combined with the secular trend against manufacturing, that’s nothing to be sniffed at.
In the Eurozone overall, the PMI is at its highest for 15 months, although only just. It’s still not good news, as such – not a single nation covered is actually growing – but it’s still hopeful:
The German PMI signalled the slowest rate of contraction overall and moved close to the stabilisation level as output and new orders both rose for the first time in three months. Downturns in the Netherlands and Austria were also only moderate.
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