Australia CBA / Markit preliminary PMIs for July
Manufacturing 53.4
- prior 51.2
Services 58.5 (and a record high since the series was launched in May 2016)
- prior 53.1
Composite 57.9
- prior 52.7
The key findings from the report, some encouragement here:
- The latest Commonwealth Bank Flash Composite PMI® signalled an improvement in growth momentum during July as the economic recovery from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) downturn continued. Business activity increased at the fastest pace since April 2017, with the overall expansion driven by a sharp rise in services activity. Total new orders also increased in spite of falling exports. Meanwhile, employment decreased for the sixth month running.
Says CBA:
- "The improvement in growth momentum in July is welcome, but concerns around COVID-19 and the potential policy responses to a lift in the number of new cases continue to weigh on activity"
- "The fall in employment looks a little surprising given some other measures of labour demand have firmed more recently. But encouragingly the acceleration of growth in new orders suggests labour demand should improve. The lack of any inflationary pulse was once again evident. That supports our view that we will be in a low inflation environment for an extended period of time"
