Global manufacturing picks up with more new orders

Over the last two days the purchasing managers' index for a number of countries have been compiled by JPMorgan and NTC Research into a global manufacturing PMI, which shows that manufacturing activity remains on track for further, if subdued, growth.

Global manufacturing PMI picked up slightly in December, as new orders rose at strongest pace in four months
At 53.6 in December, up from 53.2 a month earlier, the Global Manufacturing PMI -- a composite index produced by JPMorgan and NTC in association with ISM and IFPMM -- posted a reading above the no-change mark of 50.0 for the eighteenth successive month. The upturn remained broad-based, with all except one of the national manufacturing economies (Italy) registering an improvement. However, for the final quarter of 2004, the PMI pointed (on average) to an easing in the rate of growth from the joint-survey record high seen in Q2 2004 to the least marked since Q3 2003 (when the current upturn began). The majority of the national manufacturing economies, including the US, the Eurozone, Japan and China, recorded slower growth in Q4 2004 than in the previous quarter...

The table below is a summary of the changes in the sub-indices from the previous month.

	Nov	Dec	Change
Global PMI	53.2	53.6	+
Output	53.4	53.5	+
New Orders	53.9	56.5	+
Input Prices	71.8	68.4	-
Employment	52.0	50.5	-

The table below is a summary of the changes in some of the national or regional PMIs from the previous month.

	Nov	Dec	Change
US	57.8	58.6	+
Eurozone	50.4	51.4	+
Japan	51.3	50.6	-
UK	55.0	53.7	-
China	51.9	51.3	-
Australia	53.1	60.8	+
Singapore	50.3	51.8	+

As further evidence of the continued growth in manufacturing, US factory orders rose at the fastest rate in four months during November, according to the Commerce Department. Strong demand for new commercial aircraft pushed orders up by 1.2 percent in November, up from an upwardly-revised 0.9 percent orders gain in October. However, excluding transportation, factory orders were flat in November after rising 1 percent in October.