It looked like markets were going to escape the day’s lows thanks to a broadly better than forecast set of European manufacturing PMIs. Then the US numbers were released...
France’s manufacturing slide, from 51.1 to 49.7 was an anomaly this morning. The German figure came in at 47.8, well above the estimated 44.8; the Eurozone-wide number crept from 47.9 to 49.1; and the UK reading unexpectedly came in at a 10-month high of 51.9.
Though these figures didn’t erase the losses seen after the bell, inspired by a rising number of new coronavirus in and, especially, outside China, they certainly helped. Even if they did come thick with caveats about issues in the supply chain, the kind that could well manifest in March’s readings.
However, with news that the US flash manufacturing PMI fell faster than forecast, from 51.9 to 50.8, the markets plunged back towards their intraday lows.
Down 0.7%, the FTSE sank to 7390 for the first time in close to 3-weeks. A 1.1% decline for the DAX sent it to a 10-day low of 13550, while a similar drop for the CAC left the French index barely clinging on above 6000.
As for the Dow Jones, after a rough end to Thursday, a further 200 point fall forced the index below 29000, at the end of a week that had seen it teasing 29500 on Monday.
However hard they try to ignore the coronavirus – just look at that recent bevy of all-time highs – this week seems to have forced investors to consider the economic impact of the illness, be it Apple’s revenue warning or today’s caveat-laden manufacturing PMIs. Will they still be listening come Monday morning?
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