Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Major economies report positive data but stocks fall

Economic data on Tuesday were positive.

Markit's eurozone services PMI rose to a 34-month high of 53.1 in April from 52.2 in March. This helped push the composite index to 54.0 in April from 53.1 in March.

According to Markit, the composite index pointed to second-quarter growth of 0.5 percent, which would be the strongest in three years.

Another report from the euro area on Tuesday showed that retail sales rose 0.3 percent in March after rising 0.1 percent in February.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Markit/CIPS UK services PMI rose to 58.7 in April from 57.6 in March.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said: “The April numbers point to the economy growing by at least 0.8 percent again in the second quarter.”

Also reporting positive data on Tuesday was the US. A 2.1 percent rise in exports to the second-highest level on record helped narrow the US trade deficit in March. Imports rose 1.1 percent.

However, even as advanced economies are set to perform better, growth in developing economies may be slowing.

On Tuesday, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that it had cut its global growth forecast for this year to 3.4 percent from 3.6 percent as it sees emerging economies such as China and Russia becoming a drag on the global economy.

Indeed, investors sold stocks on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 falling 0.9 percent.

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