Page 39 - Jonathan Cable News Today

The euro zone economy is almost certainly in a double-dip recession as COVID-19 lockdowns continue to hammer the services industry, but hopes for a wider vaccine rollout has driven optimism to a three-year peak, a survey showed on Wednesday.

* Japan manufacturing expands at fastest pace in two years * China’s private PMI expands at slowest pace in nine months * PMI surveys show post-COVID-19 recovery yet to be bedded down (Adds European data, comment) LONDON/TOKYO, March 1 (Reuters) - Demand for manufactured goods drove extended growth in factories across Europe and Asia in February, but a slowdown in China underscored the challenges countries face as they seek a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic blow. Restrictions ...

Read more about Pent-up demand for manufactured goods driving global factory revival on Business Standard. Manufacturing activity in Japan expanded at the fastest pace in over two years

World stocks’ dance to continue, but inflation could mute the music: Reuters poll The bull-run in global stocks fuelled by cheap cash and reflation hopes will continue for at least another six months but a rise in bond yields as inflation expectations grow could throw a spanner in the works, Reuters polls found. Despite severe economic damage from the pandemic, MSCI’s global stock index — which tracks shares across 49 countries — notched up all-time highs this month, having risen over 7...

The bull-run in global stocks fuelled by cheap cash and reflation hopes will continue for at least another six months but a rise in bond yields as inflation expectations grow could throw a spanner in the works, Reuters polls found.

Business activity across the euro zone contracted again in February as lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus hammered the bloc's dominant service industry, a survey showed, even as factories had their busiest month in three years.

Britain's economy will narrowly dodge a double-dip recession and will have returned to pre-COVID-19 levels within two years, according to economists in a Reuters poll who said the Bank of England was unlikely to take borrowing costs negative.

By Jonathan Cable

Most emerging-market currencies, which recently had a rough ride because of the dollar's strength, will heal from those losses this year as global demand for risk and high yields grows amid optimism around vaccine rollouts, a Reuters poll predicted.

Euro zone downturn deepened in January as lockdowns hit services The euro zone’s economic downturn deepened in January as renewed restrictions to quell the spread of the coronavirus hit the bloc’s dominant service industry hard, offsetting a robust performance by manufacturers, a survey showed on Wednesday. Coronavirus cases have been soaring again and governments across the continent have renewed tough lockdown measures, clamping down on public life and forcing hospitality and entertainmen...