Reassurance likely on the UK's output trend
May 21, 2015 05:38 am UTC| Commentary
The big fall in the April manufacturing PMI of UK from 54.0 to 51.9 has caused the market to become a little gloomy about the prospects for the manufacturing sector. That concern was also fed by the surprisingly weak Q1...
UK's weak sales will mask firm trend
May 21, 2015 05:32 am UTC| Commentary
The variable timing of Easter regularly plays havoc with the monthly path of UKs retail sales and this year has proved no exception. The survey period for the official April data this year takes in the second half of the...
Euro area's manufacturing PMI to soften; services PMI to strengthen
May 21, 2015 05:27 am UTC| Commentary
The euro area manufacturing PMI is expected to soften from 52.0 to 51.8 in May. On the other hand, the PMI for the services sector should marginally increase from 54.1 to 54.3. Historically, such PMI levels (for both the...
US FOMC minutes push first rate hike into H2
May 21, 2015 05:15 am UTC| Commentary
The minutes of the late April FOMC meeting revealed that most officials still believed the weakness in first-quarter activity was "partly or even largely transitory". Regardless of whether it was transitory or more...
New Zealand initiates new policies
May 21, 2015 04:32 am UTC| Commentary
Many of the new policy initiated by New Zealand government covered in the Budget had already been well-signalled, including further chunky ACC levy cuts in 2015/16 and 2016/17, a tightening of capital gains tax rules...
April FOMC minutes did not completely rule out a June hike
May 21, 2015 04:22 am UTC| Commentary
The April FOMC minutes revealed that Fed officials still expect the economy will rebound after the soft 1Q, but conviction was not quite as high. As a result, "many" participants viewed a June rate hike as "unlikely".The...
DAILY ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: May 21st, 2015
May 21, 2015 04:17 am UTC| Commentary
The euro area economy outperformed both the US and the UK in Q1, but todays releases may provide further evidence that business sentiment is easing in the current quarter. The preliminary flash PMI reports for both...