PMI data for April

There was not much in the data to get excited about, and it is possible that global economic activity actually fell in April. The recovery remains weak, despite a rise in activity around the turn of the year. The reason for the weakness has to be the ongoing saga in Europe, where activity has been contracting for twelve months. It is little wonder that the enthusiasm for austerity is not quite as great as it was, and demonstrates just how misplaced this enthusiasm has always been. Elsewhere, activity is still increasing but not as rapidly as a few months ago, and it is quite clear that stimulus policies will remain in place for some considerable time.