Global manufacturing numbers continued to weaken in June, with a worldwide gauge of factory activity rendering its weakest reading since October 2012 as the number of new orders contracted sharply.
The big picture: June's reading is the first time since November 2012 that the index has been in contraction for two consecutive months, with the fall in the manufacturing numbers seen in both developed and emerging countries. However, developed countries, particularly in the eurozone, have been hit the hardest.
- "The decline might partly have reflected the impact of newly imposed tariffs on sentiment, suggesting that the PMI could recover some lost ground now that a truce has been reached," analysts at Capital Economics said in a recent research report
Be smart: Capital Economics further noted that manufacturing PMIs fell in all of the world's largest economies except the U.S. and Brazil in June.
- "But the modest rise in the US PMI left it still at a low level and the alternative ISM manufacturing index fell to its lowest since October 2016," research analysts said. The firm is expecting U.S. GDP growth to slow from 3.2% in Q1 to around 1.7% in Q2.
Of note: IHS Markit's data also showed China's PMI fell to a five-month low of 49.4. U.K. manufacturing fell to 48, the lowest level since February 2013.
Go deeper: Manufacturing is falling fast and hard