The latest Commonwealth Bank Flash Composite PMI® signalled an improvement in growth momentum during July as the economic recovery from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) downturn continued. Business activity increased at the fastest pace since April 2017, with the overall expansion driven by a sharp rise in services activity. Total new orders also increased in spite of falling exports. Meanwhile, employment decreased for the sixth month running.
Remember that PMIs are directional not positional so this only tells you that things are getting better not from where.
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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.
