Succinct summation of week’s events:
Positives:
1) After falling every single day last week, the Spanish IBEX rallies every single day this week in anticipation of bank recap via EFSF.
2) With room to move, the PBOC and RBA both cut interest rates.
3) Canada and Australia both report better than expected job gains in May.
4) HSBC private sector weighted services index in China rises to 54.7 from 54.1 to the best since Oct ’10.
5) UK PMI services index holds at 53.3 for 2nd month instead of falling to 52.4 as expected.
6) US ISM services index unexpectedly rises to 53.7 in May vs 53.5 in April, a phew moment in light of growing economic worries.
Negatives:
1) Euro zone retail sales, German factory orders, German exports and Italian IP all fall more than expected in April.
2) From asset price/market standpoint, the ECB, BoE and Ben Bernanke didn’t bring the meat to the dog’s.
3) Initial Claims 1k less than expected but last week revised up by 6k. Downward trend seen temporarily stalled out.
4) Notwithstanding another record low in mortgage rates, purchase apps fall for 4th straight week and refi’s only rise by 2%. Fed’s likely answer is to try to lower mortgage rates even more. Winning!
5) China’s state sector weighted PMI services index falls to 55.2 from 56.1, the lowest since at least Mar ’11.
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