Worldwide stock markets take lead from manufacturing figures
Worldwide stock markets are higher today after European and Chinese manufacturing data seemed to indicate that the worldwide economy was on a growth path. This comes after a very difficult three month period at the beginning of 2010 during which different indicators seemed to give very different signals regarding the short to medium term direction of the worldwide economy.
While the improvement in the European economy will obviously impact upon trade with the UK, it is the positive news coming from China which has caught the eye of worldwide investors. The Chinese economy is one of the most influential around the world and recently there had been fears of a slowdown amid signs that money was becoming tighter. However, positive manufacturing data from China would seem to indicate that the economy is back on an upward trend which will eventually filter through to trading partners around the world.
The US dollar also hit a three month high against the Japanese yen indicating renewed hope that the US economy will also help in pulling the worldwide economy out of recession. It will be interesting to see if economists improve their forecasts for the short to medium term, with regards to economic growth, or whether they hold back for further confirmation.
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