Global Manufacturing Growth Slows To A 6-Month Low
And while manufacturing activity continues to grow, the pace of growth is decelerating.
The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI index slipped to a six-month low of 51.9 in April from 52.4 in March.
The output, new orders, employment, and input prices subindices all reflected slower growth during the period.
"[T]he world aggregates were affected by a marked turnaround in the performance of Japan," said JP Morgan analysts. "Japanese manufacturing output and new business fell sharply following a recent increase in sales tax."
The good news is that this doesn't appear to be a permanent problem.
"[O]ther evidence from the Japan survey suggests the downturn may be brief, providing a boost to the global indices in coming months," they said.
Here's a bit more color from the report:
In contrast, the UK and the US remained bright spots, with output and new order growth accelerating from already elevated rates. The Czech Republic also remained one of the strongest performers. In the euro area, output growth reached a three-month high and was only slightly off of January's near three-year high.
Conditions in Asia remained subdued in comparison. Apart from the sharp downturn in Japan, there was also a solid decline in Chinese output. South Korean and Indonesian output also contracted, while growth slowed in India and Taiwan. Elsewhere, Brazil and Russia both registered lower production.