Global manufacturing PMI up

On the whole, manufacturing worldwide appears to be holding up well, with the JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI index rising to 52.2 in November from 51.9 in October. There were diverging performances though, as Reuters reports

The Institute for Supply Management said its monthly index of U.S. factory activity edged down for a fifth straight month, to 50.8 from 50.9 in October...

In Europe, the RBS/NTC November Purchasing Manager's Index was revised up to 52.8 from a 52.6 flash estimate, well above the 50.0 cut-off mark between growth and contraction. The UK PMI confounded expectations for a fall and jumped to 54.4 from 52.9.

The eurozone PMI, together with a Eurostat report showing that unemployment in the euro zone fell to 7.2 percent in October, the lowest since the currency bloc was formed, suggests that the eurozone economy is not seeing much deceleration so far.

In the meantime, inflation pressures do not seem to have abated much around the world.

While manufacturing activity picked up in Europe and the UK, so did prices charged at the factory gate -- particularly in Britain, where the rate of increase was just a sliver below a record high logged a few months ago.

The U.S. ISM data painted a similar picture, with the prices measure jumping to 67.5 from 63.0 a month earlier.

Meanwhile, there were conflicting signals from China. While the PMI rose to 55.4 in November from 53.2 in October according to a survey by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, the CLSA PMI fell to an eight-month low of 52.8 in November from 55.2 in October.