Thursday, March 3, 2016

2/3/16: Irish Manufacturing PMI: February


Irish Manufacturing PMI posted a long-anticipated, and relatively mild slip back from a rapid pace of expansion in January (54.3) to shallower growth in February 2016 (52.9).

Despite this fall back, 3mo average Manufacturing PMI for the period through February stood at 53.8, which is above the 3mo average reading through November 2015 (53.6), although well below the 3mo average through February 2015 (56.5).

Per Markit release: “Growth eased in the Irish manufacturing sector in February as new orders increased at the weakest pace since late-2013. Output and purchasing activity also rose at slower rates, but employment bucked the wider trend by increasing more quickly than at the start of the year. The rate of input cost deflation quickened to the fastest since November 2009, with output prices also falling at a sharper pace in response… Where new
orders did increase, panellists often mentioned higher new business from export markets, in turn reflecting new orders from the UK and US. Growth in new export business also slowed, however.”

Good news is: “…the latest solid expansion in production extended the current sequence of growth to 33 months.” Bad news is: much of growth seems to be concentrated in the areas benefiting from weaker Euro, not in the areas of organic expansion.



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