Eurozone Manufacturing’s Constant Rise: Time to Invest?

According to a report by Markit Economics, the final Eurozone manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers’ index) stood at 57.4 in June 2017 compared to 57.0 in May. The PMI figure beat the preliminary estimate of 57.3. It was the strongest figure since April 2011.

The Eurozone manufacturing PMI showed a solid improvement in business activity in June. New orders, export orders, and job growth all rose at a stronger rate in June 2017. Business sentiment toward the manufacturing sector also improved at a stronger pace.

The member nations of the Eurozone (HEDJ), such as Germany (EWG), Italy, and France (EWQ), cited an improvement in the manufacturing sector. The gradual improvements in these countries improve confidence in the overall Eurozone economy (IEV)(VGK). However, we saw that the Eurozone services PMI recorded lower performance in June 2017.

Many fund managers believe the condition of the Eurozone economy is changing and economic activity is improving gradually. They expect the European equity market to provide strong earnings growth in the near future as the economy’s demand outlook is changing. BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink recently said in an interview with CNBC that he sees better value in Europe than the United States. Recently, Marc Faber said that he’s choosing Europe over the United States for investment.

In the next part of this series, we’ll look at the performance of Japan’s (EWJ) manufacturing PMI for June 2017.