Analysts at ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited explained that the Labor Day holiday in the US gave cause for light levels of trading activity.
Key Quotes:
“Data releases were confined to PMI data for UK and Europe, which were on the soft side.”
“GBP came under pressure across the board on the back of Brexit headlines and disappointing UK PMI data.”
“Fixed income was very quiet with the yield on the 10-year bund up 0.7bps.”
“Markets await further details on Italy’s preliminary budget plans.”
“European equities were mixed.”
“The DAX fell 0.1%, the CAC 40 rose 0.1% and the FTSE 100 rose 1.0%, with the Sterling’s underperformance giving it a lift.”
“WTI rose 0.4% and gold fell 0.2%. Emerging market assets were weaker, particularly in Argentina, with the Government announcing new taxes on exporters.”
Data pulse:
“The August final euro area manufacturing PMI was unchanged from the preliminary estimate at 54.6. Manufacturing activity remains soft, with trade fears potentially weighing, although the pace of decline has moderated over the past three months. New orders fell 0.2 points to 53.0, employment fell 0.5 to 55.0 and future output fell 1.4 points to 61.0. The worrying print came from Italy, where the manufacturing PMI index fell 1.4 points to 50.1. New orders fell 1.4 points to 48.7, down from 61.3 in January. The output index fell to 49.4 from 50.2. Budget uncertainty appears to be weighing on business sentiment in Italy.”
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