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Summary
Summary
- Having started the year on a disappointing note, seeing the weakest month-on-month growth for thirteen months in January, the global economy continued showing relatively weak performance over the last month. Concerns thrive over Chinese economic expansion prospects even with implementation of a new growth target range, while the possibility of ‘Brexit’ puts a shadow of doubt on the outlook for growth in Europe. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of negative interest rate regime, that is being introduced in many economies at the moment, has become questionable. However, despite these developments, business and consumer sentiment in February managed to climb modestly.
- The persistent turmoil in financial markets and a steep drop in February’s Euro area’s PMI did not manage to sharpen prospects for downside risks in the near term, with the six-month outlook jumping 0.05 points, while the three-year sentiment climbed 0.07 points in the measured month.
- North America saw mixed results in January, as the six-month sentiment index inched down slightly, while the three-year measure rebounded 0.06 points.
- The negative sentiment for the Asia-Pacific region observed throughout 2015 does not seem to have carried in the Q1, as the both short and long term gauge soared in February. Against China continuing to pose downside risks to growth in the entire region, looser monetary policies in many countries managed to shore up economic activity, determining market participants’ risk appetite, business and consumer confidence.
