020 7898 0500Unlike Germany and the eurozone, the Markit PMI flash readings came in above forecast for February. Coincidentally, composite, manufacturing and services all came in the exact same at 55.9 which was better than the respective 54.4, 55.4 and 53.8 expected.
The composite reading showed the steepest rate of growth in the private sector for almost 2.5 years; manufacturing showed the strongest rate of expansions since October 2014; and the services sector showed the strongest pace for six months.
All in all, a positive day for the US, marred only by the existing home sales which shrank by 3.2% month-on-month to 5.38 million, when a growth of 0.9% to 5.6 million had been expected.
Today we will see the initial jobless claims up to 10 February 2018. These are expected to stay unchanged at 230,000.
