Forex Flash: European PMIs paint mixed picture - BBH

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Brown Brothers Harriman analysts note that todays European PMIs were mixed.

They see that Sweden’s PMI was higher than expected at 52.1 (exp. 50.6), but Switzerland’s was lower than expected at 48.3 (exp. 50.4). Also, Italian PMI came in at 44.5 (exp. 45.3), French at 44.0 (exp. 43.9) and German at 49.0 (exp. 48.9). They feel that this led to a modest upside surprise to the Eurozone manufacturing PMI, which came in at 46.8 vs. expectations for 46.6. They note that In the UK, PMI came in at 48.3 (exp 48.7). They write, “The UK economy remains soft, but BOE Governor King has been outvoted as the majority refuses to renew the gilt purchase program. The recent minutes revealed that this was due in part to concerns that it would lead to fresh sterling weakness. That will likely change later in the year, after Carney has been installed as the new Governor. We see steady BOE policy at Thursday’s meeting.”