Despite all of the central bank manipulations over the past seven years, it is finally becoming clear economies will not be able to achieve escape velocity. The U.S. central bank has the longest track record of treading down the path of monetary manipulations. And has achieved anemic average annual growth of 2.2% since 2010. Therefore, to further demonstrate the failure of money printing to engender economic growth, the dismal Q1 GDP read of just 0.2 % displays the failure of this policy once again. Wall Street Shills have been quick to once again blame snow in the winter for the Q1 miss. However, it is becoming evident that Q2 will not produce any such anticipated rebound.
Markit’s Flash U.S. Services PMI (Purchaser Managers Index) for April indicated that business activity rose at a slower pace than expected. The April reading came in at 54.2, which was below the consensus of 56.2 and below March’s level of 55.3. Adding to the bad news was the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index that hit 95.2 in April. Economists polled by Reuters expected a reading of 102.5. And, the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index fell into the minus column for the second month in a row at -3 for the start of Q2.
Things don’t look much better across the globe. The Euro zone Purchasing Managers’ Survey disappointed investors with the German PMI index falling to 54.2, from March’s eight-month high of 55.4. France’s PMI also showed a slower expansion than forecast in the services sector and a worse contraction in manufacturing than predicted. Manufacturing PMI in France decreased to 48.4 in April, from 48.8 in March.
Japanese manufacturing activity contracted in April for the first time in almost a year, as domestic orders and output fell. The Markit’s Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to a seasonally adjusted 49.7 in April, from a final 50.3 in March. The index fell below the 50 threshold that separates contraction from expansion for the first time since May of last year.
