USA • Markit’s flash composite PMI signaled a strong, but slower increase in business activity across the private sector in April. The headline index came in at 55.1, down from 57.7 the month before. The manufacturing sector tracker advanced from 58.8 to a 7-month high of 59.7 as the rate of increase of both output [...]
USA • The Federal Reserve published the minutes of its two-day policy meeting held March 15-16. All eyes were on the Fed's roadmap for future monetary policy tightening. About quantitative tightening (QT), the Fed mentioned that “it would be appropriate to begin this process at a coming meeting, possibly as soon as in May”. All [...]
USA • Nonfarm payrolls rose 431K in March, slightly less than the +490K print expected by consensus. A sizeable upward revision to the prior months’ results (+95K) more than compensated for that miss. Employment in the goods segment jumped 60K, with gains in manufacturing (+38K) and construction (+19K). Services-producing industries, meanwhile, expanded payrolls by 366K, [...]
