It’s That Time of the Month Again, to See Where Global Manufacturing Stands

Three weeks have passed into the month of September now and it’s time to see how manufacturing is doing across the globe. This sector is in great difficulty, mainly due to the trade war between US and China, but also because major central banks were too quick to withdraw the stimulus packages they started after the global financial crisis.

Manufacturing is in contraction or in recession in many large economies, such as in China, Japan, in Germany, in UK, Italy, the Eurozone, etc. In other major countries, such as the US, Australia and France, this sector is close to stagnation. Earlier this morning, the Australian PMI was released and it fell below 50 points, which means contraction.

The other manufacturing reports from Europe will be released this morning and the US report will be released later in the afternoon. Manufacturing PMI is expected to improve, with German manufacturing PMI indicator anticipated to increase to 44.6 points from 43.5 points previously.

The Eurozone manufacturing PMI is also expected to increase from 47.0 points in August to 47.6 this month. This still means contraction for manufacturing activity, but at least contraction is slowing this month, which would be a good sign after seeing this sector weaken constantly.

If it beats expectations, it would be even better and it would ease some nerves regarding a possible recession coming up in the Eurozone, although improving for just one month is not enough. Markets have to witness manufacturing improve for a few months at least, which would set an improving trend in order to brighten the overall picture for the Eurozone and the Euro.