Europe’s service sector is springing back into life. Easing virus restrictions and further vaccination progress are boosting demand for a wide variety of activities, especially in tourism, travel and hospitality. Chris Williamson More Quotes by Chris Williamson More Quotes From Chris Williamson Euro zone manufacturing growth gained further momentum in June, rounding off the best quarter for just over six years. Chris Williamson top-news There's no sign of the impressive performance ending any time soon. The manufacturing sector is clearly in expansion mode and looks poised for continued robust growth in coming months. Chris Williamson top-news July saw a dramatic deterioration in the economy, the downturn, whether manifesting itself in order book cancellations, a lack of new orders or the postponement or halting of projects, was most commonly attributed in one way or another to Brexit. Chris Williamson business With policymakers waiting to see hard data on the state of the economy before considering more stimulus, the slump in the PMI will provide a powerful argument for swift action. Chris Williamson business It’s a movie that makes you think, it’s not your typical Christian-themed movie – even though it’s dominated with Christian themes. If you are an atheist, a new believer, an unbeliever – I think you can find yourself in this film. Chris Williamson opinion The U.S. manufacturing sector has seen a distinct loss of growth momentum in recent months, endured the worst performance for two years during the third quarter, headwinds include the rising dollar, weak demand in global markets, a downturn in business investment and financial market jitters. Chris Williamson business The survey is indicating the weakest manufacturing growth for almost two years, meaning the sector will have acted as a drag on the economy in the third quarter. Chris Williamson business A mixed report on the health of the U.S. labour market gives frustratingly little new insight into whether the Fed will start to hike rates, a bumper payrolls number would have sealed the case for higher interest rates in many people minds, while a low number would have dealt a blow to any chances of tightening of policy at the next meeting. Instead, we had something in the middle. Chris Williamson latest-headlines Inflationary pressures have abated, which will help the argument that interest rate hikes can be delayed. Chris Williamson business The Markit PMI data indicate that the US economy enjoyed a good start to the third quarter. Faster growth in services accompanied a similar upturn in manufacturing. Chris Williamson business A modest upturn in the headline manufacturing PMI belies some more worrying undercurrents which point to potential weakness in coming months. Chris Williamson business The overall pace of expansion remains insipid rather than impressive. This is perhaps not surprising given the heightened degree of uncertainty surrounding the Greek debt talks that was seen during the month. Chris Williamson business While the survey data point to the economy rebounding in the second quarter, the weak PMI number for June raises the possibility that we are seeing a loss of momentum heading into the third quarter, the slowdown is being led by deteriorating export performance, which many producers in turn linked to a loss of competitiveness caused by the stronger dollar. Chris Williamson business The rate of growth is modest rather than spectacular, however, and there are clearly countries which continue to struggle, weakness is centered in the region's core, with France's manufacturing sector still in decline and Germany only seeing very meager growth. Chris Williamson business While growth has clearly slowed in 2015 compared to the impressive rate seen throughout much of last year, the goods-producing sector is by no means collapsing under the weight of the strong dollar, and fears of a sharp slowdown consequently look overplayed. Chris Williamson business Manufacturing regained further momentum from the slowdown seen at the turn of the year, with output, new orders and employment growth all accelerating in March. Chris Williamson business Business picked up especially towards the end of the month, when the impact of bad weather on the East Coast and port delays on the West Coast began to clear, which suggests this may be a temporary upturn. Chris Williamson business Business investment needs to revive for the upturn to be truly sustainable, at the moment, the growth outlook appears to be largely reliant on households benefiting from falling prices and higher wages, the latter being far from guaranteed. Chris Williamson energy While parts of the East Coast have struggled in the face of adverse weather, other regions basked in unusually warm temperatures, boosting business above seasonal norms, activity levels surged higher and inflows of new business boomed as a result. Chris Williamson business Alongside the upturn signaled by the sister ‘flash’ manufacturing PMI survey, the improved performance of the service sector in February means the economy looks to be enjoying yet another spell of robust growth in the first quarter. Chris Williamson business
