The Japanese February PMI was released today and shows a small fall towards zero growth:
After adjusting for seasonal variation, the Markit/JMMA Purchasing Managers’ Index™ (PMI™) posted 50.5 in February, down slightly from 50.7 in the previous month, signalling a continued, albeit marginal, improvement in manufacturing sector business conditions.
The index may have sustained positive territory but the leading indicators were less sanguine:
February data showed continued growth of Japanese manufacturing output. New export orders fell at a solid rate, but this was insufficient to prevent an expansion of overall new business as domestic demand held firm…Similar to the trend for production, total new business increased for a second month in succession, but at only a marginal rate. Growth nevertheless contrasted with a renewed decline in new export business. The pace of reduction in new export orders was solid, and the fastest since last November.
In short, Japan’s PMI has joined the zombie brigade. Not that anyone is paying any attention yet, their eyes bedazzled by free money pouring in everywhere, but the underlying quality of global growth remains highly questionable.
