Strong growth in US and euro zone services industry
A flurry of economic reports today confirmed that the recovery in the services sector appears to be well and truly underway in the US and the euro zone although the UK services sector has seen growth slow to its lowest rate since July 2009. These contradictory reports about economies around the world add to the confusion within worldwide stock markets where indicators and economic data seem to flip-flop on an almost daily basis. But is the increase in the US services sector something we should be focusing on?
As we have mentioned on numerous occasions, there is no doubt that the US economy is the engine room of the worldwide economy and without an improvement in the US services sector there is little likelihood of a worldwide resurgence. Interestingly we also saw growth in the euro zone services sector, although this was reduced from 56 points to 55.8 points, with Germany and France particularly strong and appearing to carry the "weaker nations in the euro zone".
However, investors are unlikely to take today's economic indicators in isolation because news and views have been very mixed over the last few weeks. Those with an aversion to risk may well wish to wait until a firm trend is in place before returning to the investment marketplace.
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