AFP/CNA reports the Tankan survey findings for the first quarter.
Business confidence among Japan's major manufacturers fell back from a two-year high over the three months to March, marking the first decline for one year, the central bank reported Monday.
Confidence among Japan's big manufacturers dropped to 23 in March from 25 in December, the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey showed, slightly below market expectations for a figure of 24...
On a brighter note, sentiment among major non-manufacturers held steady at 22 in December, defying market expectations of a decline to 20.
The big manufacturers forecast a further drop in confidence to 20 by June while the large non-manufacturers expect a pick-up to 23...
The Tankan survey of almost 10,000 firms showed that all companies expect to trim capital expenditure by 0.3 percent on average in the current fiscal year to March 2008, after a 9.5 percent rise last year.
Reuters reports the global PMI for March.
Global manufacturing growth eased in March across all major industrial regions, but price pressures remain, a report showed on Monday.
The Global Manufacturing indicator, produced by JP Morgan with research and supply management organisations, eased to 52.9 in March from 53.7, but still held above the 50.0 mark dividing growth from contraction.
Bloomberg has the details on the US data:
Manufacturing growth in the U.S. slowed more than forecast last month and raw-materials costs jumped, reinforcing concerns that a cooling economy isn't reducing inflation.
The Institute for Supply Management said today its factory index fell to 50.9, from 52.3 in February. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a drop to 51.4. A sub-index of prices rose the most in seven months, while measures of employment and new orders declined.
And the eurozone data:
Europe's manufacturing growth unexpectedly slowed in March after demand for exports cooled and a tax increase in Germany reduced consumer spending in the region's largest economy.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said its index of manufacturing in the euro region fell to 55.4, the lowest since February 2006, from 55.6 a month earlier. A reading above 50 indicates growth. Economists expected the gauge, compiled by NTC Economics Ltd. from a survey of 3,000 purchasing managers, to increase to 55.7, the median of 32 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed.
AFX/Forbes reports the Chinese data in the form of the CLSA PMI:
The China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 52.3 in March from 53.0 in February, even though the manufacturing sector continued to improve, CLSA said.
... as well as the CFLP PMI:
The purchasing manager's index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose to 56.1 points in March from 53.1 in February, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) said.
FT reports the UK PMI:
Strong foreign demand helped the UK manufacturing base record its twentieth consecutive month of expansion in March, a report released on Monday showed.
The latest poll from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and Royal Bank of Scotland showed an index of manufacturing activity at 54.4 last month, as producers took advantage of a relatively healthy global economy...
However, the pace of expansion slowed somewhat from February’s 55.4 – a two and a half year high – prompting the City to marginally reduce expectations for an increase in interest rates this month.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the UK construction sector grew at its fastest pace in nearly three years in the first quarter.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its quarterly balance of construction workloads rose to +28 in the January to March period, up from +26 in the last quarter of 2006. This was the highest reading since the second quarter of 2004.
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