“America’s manufacturing industry suffered the sharpest slowdown last month since the depths of the global financial crisis, prompting calls for emergency rate cuts to avert a spiral into recession.
“IHS Markit’s momentum gauge fell to the lowest since September 2009 as America’s fortress economy succumbed to fading fiscal stimulus and mounting damage from trade wars with China, Europe, and Mexico.
“Chris Williamson, the group’s chief economist, said US profit margins are being squeezed. Manufacturers are cutting output and laying off staff. “Surging order book growth just a few months ago has now turned into contraction – the first such decline seen in the series’ 10-year history,” he said.”
“A stampede to safety sent benchmark government bond yields tumbling on Monday, hoisted the Swiss franc to its highest in nearly two years and gold to a 10-week peak, while oil veered close to bear market territory. After a torrid May that wiped $3 trillion off global equities, worsening trade tensions and the broader economic backdrop made for a jarring start to June…
“German government bond yields — which move inversely to price — fell to a new all-time low and those on two-year U.S. Treasuries were flirting with their biggest two-day fall since October 2008, at the start of the global financial crisis.”
“Sales in the UK high street during May took their biggest slump in 24 years amid political and economic uncertainty, according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium.
“On a total basis, sales for the month declined by 2.7%. Excluding Easter distortions.
That was the worst drop since January 1995, when the BRC began recording figures.”
https://news.sky.com/story/may-retail-sales-hit-by-biggest-slump-on-record-11734305
“Activity in Germany’s export-dependent manufacturing sector decreased in May, a survey showed on Monday, hobbled by both declining new orders and a sharp fall in employment.
“IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing, which accounts for about a fifth of the economy, fell to 44.3, close to its lowest level since 2012.
“That matched a flash reading and below the 44.4 reading recorded in April.”
https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/03/german-manufacturers-trim-staff-as-slump-persists-pmi
“Deutsche Bank shares slumped to a fresh record low Monday as pressure continues to mount on the region’s biggest lender amid calls to increase its capital buffer and record low interest rates in the struggling European economy.
“Benchmark 10-year German bunds hit a new all-time low of -0.216% in mid-morning Monday trade.”
“The International Monetary Fund on Monday warned France that its public debt is “too high for comfort”, calling on the nation to tackle the issue by stepping up spending reforms…
“…it urged the government of President Emmanuel Macron to find further ways to curb spending and to ensure the measures have public support, in a nation rocked by weekly anti-government “yellow vest” protests.”
https://www.france24.com/en/20190603-imf-urges-france-step-reforms-rein-debt
“Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Monday said he was ready to resign unless the two parties in the governing populist coalition – the League and the Five Star Movement – stopped squabbling.”
“A gauge measuring sentiment in South Africa’s manufacturing industry declined in May, extending its worst start to a year since the financial crisis.
“Absa Group Ltd.’s Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, fell to 45.4 from 47.2 in April (below 50 denotes contraction).”
“The ongoing consumer demand slowdown has claimed yet another victim in slowing car sales with automobile demand continuing to be sluggish, says a report…
“The volume of passenger vehicle industry sales fell by double-digit on a yearly basis in May 2019.”
“Underwriters of a new Chinese credit hedging tool just narrowly avoided their first-ever payout in the nation’s $13 trillion bond market.”
“[China’s] manufacturing PMI shows several recent dips below the important 50-mark into contraction territory, corresponding to the “recession” in late 2018, followed by a recovery after Q1 2019, and then another fall into contraction territory in the latest May 31, 2019, release.
“These recent fluctuations suggest the recovery is shaky.”
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4267912-chinas-economy
“South Korea’s economy contracted more than expected in the first quarter as exports and construction investment were downgraded from initial estimates. Inflation ticked higher in May.
“Gross domestic product shrank 0.4% in the first quarter from the previous three months, the worst performance since the global financial crisis.
“That compares with economists’ median estimate of a 0.3% contraction, the same as the central bank’s first estimate in April.”
“Australia’s central bank lowered the cost of borrowing for the first time in three years on Tuesday…
“The Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates by 25 basis points to a historic low of 1.25 per cent, as the pace of growth slowed to levels not seen since the global financial crisis.”
“Hedge fund managers have stepped up their sales of crude oil and refined fuels amid growing concerns about the outlook for the world economy and oil consumption…
“Funds have now sold 186 million barrels of petroleum futures and options over the five weeks since April 23, after buying 609 million barrels over the previous 15 weeks since Jan. 8.”
“The reading for May came in at 49.8 compared to 50.4 in April. A reading of above 50 indicates an expansion, while a reading of below 50 points to a contraction. Thus, the reading for May showed that global manufacturing activity contracted in May.
“The reading was also at its lowest since October 2012.”
https://marketrealist.com/2019/06/tough-road-ahead-global-manufacturing-pmi-points-to-contraction/
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