The outcome of the ECB’s strategy review shows that the governing council has carefully listened to what its audience had to say. Its inflation objective is now truly symmetric, which addresses the perception that its previous objective was asymmetric. Three other changes reflect points that were strongly emphasized during the outreach events organised by the Eurosystem. The cost of owner-occupied housing will be taken into account when assessing the inflation environment. The communication will become geared towards a broader public and a decision has been taken to commit to an ambitious climate-related action plan. Now it’s back to the hard work of trying to push inflation up to 2%.
The global manufacturing PMI has eased slightly in June but this is masking diverging dynamics. The index was stable in the US, there was a small improvement in the euro area, the UK, Japan and China were weaker. India dropped below 50 and the decline in Vietnam was even bigger. In a nutshell, the levels remain very high in the developed economies but there is a loss of momentum. In the emerging countries, the picture remains very diverse, both in terms of level and change versus May.
After the catharsis of this spring, which saw the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine alongside that of the billions provided by the Biden plan, the business climate in the US has calmed somewhat. In June, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) purchasing managers index was at 60.6 in the manufacturing sector, which though high in absolute terms (the long-term average is around 53) is nevertheless down as compared to previous months, and particularly the record month of March. The same modest correction was seen in services.
The Delta variant is on its way to becoming the dominant strain of Covid-19 and has now been found in some 105 countries. Despite the health situation, visits to retail and leisure facilities remained strong, returning to their summer 2020 levels and marking a return to something close to normal in all advanced economies.
