THE NEW WORLD ENGINE!!!
EU Lifts Eurozone Growth Forecast European Union economists said cheaper oil and central bank stimulus should help deliver faster growth in the region this year.
Global Manufacturing PMI falls to 21-month low
The latest PMI surveys signalled a further growth slowdown in the global manufacturing sector, as rates of expansion in both production and new orders eased to the weakest since mid-2013. At a 21-month low of 51.0 in April, down from 51.7 in March, the J.P.Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI™ has now signalled expansion since December 2012. (…)
Global manufacturing new orders expanded at the weakest pace in almost two years during April. This partly reflected a near-stalling of growth in incoming new export business. New export orders decreased in the US, the UK, France, Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, Brazil and Greece. China and Japan reported only minor rises.
EARNINGS WATCH
- 375 companies (83.1% of the S&P 500’s market cap) have reported. Earnings are beating by 7.3% while revenues have surprised by 0.3%.
- Expectations are for revenue, earnings, and EPS of -2.8%, +0.9%, and +2.7%. Excluding Energy, growth would be 2.3%, 8.2%, and 10.3%, respectively. This excludes the likelihood of beats for unreported companies.
Wow!
SENTIMENT WATCH
Junk Bonds Are the New Haven Assets
With government bonds in Germany to Japan yielding less than nothing, money is pouring into exchange-traded funds that buy speculative-grade debt, traditionally the riskiest of fixed-income assets.
The pace is staggering. So far this year, about $9 billion has flowed into the funds globally, a significant chunk for the $44.4 billion market in junk-debt ETFs. (…)
Sounds like the beginning of the end…