Bad news is good news, in China as in America. Any economic data that indicates a slowdown is taken, by markets that are still optimistic, as a hope for the maintenance or intensification of the expansionist posture of the central banks. Thus, the data of the two Chinese PMI indices - the official one and the MSCI-Markit one - are unanimous in indicating a slowdown in the manufacturing sector: the first dropped to 51,1 in August from 51,7 in July, while the second from 51,7 to 50,2 (although remaining, in both cases, above the threshold of 50 which indicates a continuing increase). Escalating tensions in Ukraine also had little effect, with the MSCI Asia Pacific regional index climbing 0,2% towards the end of the day.
In the currency field, the yen depreciated again to 104,2 against the dollar (the Nikkei thanks it with a +0,3%) and the dollar strengthened again against the euro, which fell to 1,313. Gold loses something to $1288/ounce and WTI oil gains again to $95,8/b (Brent: 103,2).
Attachments: The Bloomberg article
