Eurozone and German data
Manufacturing recovery has largely accelerated with the momentum in Germany, as factories in the Eurozone see an increase in demand following the easing of some coronavirus restrictions, according to a monthly survey published on Thursday.
As the epidemic intensified throughout Europe in the spring months, governments imposed tough restrictions many of which were lifted as infection rates declined. But investors are cautious: a resurgence in cases with the arrival of autumn means some restrictions can now be reintroduced.
IHS Markit’s final Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index climbed from 51.7 in August to 53.7 in September, in line with the previous flash reading, its highest level since August 2018. Any value above 50 indicates growth.
“The euro zone’s recovery in output gained further momentum in September, completing the largest quarterly increase in production since the opening months of 2018,” said Chris Williamson, a chief business economist at IHS Markit.
“Without Germany, the recovery would be much more modest, but production increased particularly sharply in September, corresponding to about half of the region’s overall expansion,” Williamson said.
In Germany, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for September was 56.4, slightly below the expectation of 56.6, but far above the previous 52.2, and had a very positive effect on the outlook of the Eurozone.
Brussels takes London to court
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday that the EU has taken legal action against the UK government on charges of violations in the post-Brexit process.
Von der Leyen stated that “letter of formal notice” was sent to the London government about the “Internal Market Bill.” “This is the first step of a violation procedure,” Leyen said. The UK was asked to remove the problematic parts of the bill by the end of September. This deadline expired yesterday.
The President of the Commission underlined that the Internal Market Bill “is inherently a violation of the obligation of goodwill set forth in the Withdrawal Agreement, moreover, if it is accepted as it is, it will completely contradict the Northern Ireland Protocol.”
The Commission invited the UK government to send its observations on the formal notice letter within a month.
According to a statement from the EU Commission, the Internal Market Bill — if implemented — will “blatantly violate” the Northern Ireland Protocol.
According to the Irish state television RTÉ, the Commission’s official letter states that the UK has violated Articles 4 and 5 of the so-called “good faith” provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement.
British manufacturing
According to a preliminary private-sector survey released on Thursday, the UK’s manufacturing sector has continued to overcome the decline in the COVID-19 process last month.
IHS Markit’s UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) showed steady growth in production and new orders in September.
Manufacturing PMI was 54.1 in September. PMIs are measured on a scale from 0 to 100, any number above 50 indicates growth, below that shows contraction.
Economists had expected a reading of 54.3 in line with an earlier forecast last week. This was slightly lower than the August reading of 55.2.
Trump’s signs
US President Donald Trump signed a stopgap funding bill that Congress had previously passed to keep the federal government open until December 11, according to a statement from the White House earlier on Thursday.
Trump signed the bill into law shortly after midnight.
The law will maintain current levels of funding for most federal government agencies and programs and will prevent a government shutdown in the midst of the Covid19 outbreak just weeks before the 3 November presidential election.
The law will also give Congress members more time to set budget details for the next fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, for military operations, healthcare, national parks, space programs, and federal airports and border security.
Aid package
The Trump administration has proposed a new stimulus package worth over $ 1.5 trillion to congressional Democrats, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Wednesday.
Meadows also told reporters on the presidential plane, Air Force One, that the offer for airlines that are in danger of going out of business due to the travel restrictions includes “an extended aid of $ 20 billion for six months to airlines.”
American Airlines and United Airlines, two of the largest airlines in the United States, announced on Thursday that they started to lay off more than 32,000 workers as hopes of rescue assistance waned in Washington.
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who met again on Wednesday, failed to agree on the 5th aid package.
The Democrats’ new bid is worth $ 2.2 trillion. Meadows said he hoped the talks would continue.
Tokyo stock outage
On Thursday, a hardware failure at the Tokyo Stock Exchange halted all transactions as the world’s third-largest stock exchange recorded its worst outage.
The first full-day suspension of the Japanese stock market since its launch in full electronic commerce in 1999 caused investors to issue futile trading orders to buy back stocks after the first US presidential debate.
“I feel painfully responsible for all the mess this incident has caused for investors and market participants,” Koichiro Miyahara, Chief Executive Officer of the Tokyo Stock Exchange told a press briefing.
Miyahara stated that they aim to restart transactions on Friday.
Smaller regional exchanges in Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo also had to suspend trading as they used the Tokyo stock exchange’s system. The derivatives-focused Osaka Stock Exchange remained the only stock market still operating in Japan on Thursday.
