Services remain robust too

Economic data from the US yesterday were fairly positive. From Reuters:

The Institute for Supply Management's services index rose to 60.5 in March from 60.1 in February, as new orders improved and prices paid dropped. That was above Wall Street economists' forecasts of a decline to 59... The survey's prices-paid index fell to 60.5 in March from 64.8 in February, while the jobs component fell to 54.6 from 58.2, and new orders rose to 59.5 from 56.2...

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity last week rose 7.2 percent to 612.8 from the previous week's 571.7...

A third report showed U.S. retail sales, excluding cars, were unchanged on a seasonally adjusted basis in March, recovering from a 0.3 percent drop in February, according to preliminary data released by SpendingPulse on Wednesday.

Data were somewhat mixed in the euro zone, with the services PMI strong at an unchanged 58.2 in March but retail sales falling 0.2 percent in February.

The strong US and euro-zone services PMIs helped the JP Morgan Global Services PMI inch higher to 59.1 in March from February's 59.0, reports Reuters. That, together with the strong manufacturing PMIs released earlier this week, boosted the All-Industry Output Index for March to 58.5 from 58.2 in February.

Not everyone is seeing an improving services sector. In the UK, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply/RBS service sector business activity index fell to 57.4 in March from 58.9 in February, according to another Reuters report, which incidentally also highlighted data showing lower manufacturing output in February, slower annual take-home pay inflation in March and lower shop prices in March.