Last night China released its official PMI for November and it came in at 51.4, up slightly from October 51.1 and on a stable trajectory, better than the lead provided by the Flash estimate. More interesting was the outcome for Japan late last week:
Business conditions improved sharply at Japanese manufacturers in November, led by strong demand in both domestic and foreign markets. Output grew at the fastest pace in 50 months, whilst new orders rose at the sharpest rate since February 2006. New business from abroad expanded at a similarly sharp pace, aided by both a weak yen and growth recovery in foreign markets. Meanwhile, reflective of strong output and new order growth, employment expanded at a sharper rate.
And who said competitive devaluation didn’t work? Whoever they are they just weren’t trying hard enough.
Korean exports were out over the weekend as well and showed a decent stall, growing just 0.2% year on year in November. Expect more of the same as Japan scorches past its North Asian rivals with a lead yen.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
