In spite of positive economic news recently from the US and China, global business sentiment remains subdued. In fact according to Markit, business confidence is at the lowest level since the financial crisis.
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| Source: Markit |
Markit: - Worldwide business confidence has fallen to its lowest
since the global economy pulled out of the recession of
2008-09. The Markit Global Business Outlook Survey
of 11,000 companies worldwide shows that optimism
dropped in October to its lowest since global data were
first available in October 2009.
...
Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit: - “The mood among businesses around the world has
sunk to the darkest since the global economy pulled
out of the 2008-09 recession.
“Confidence is down in the US, Japan, China and
India, although the gloomiest picture is again seen in
the crisis-struck eurozone, with a loss of optimism in
Germany and France meaning malaise has spread
across the region. The only exception seems to be
Ireland, where businesses remained particularly
buoyant.
This data makes it even more critical that we see further growth improvements in China. Today's news of a possible slowdown in China's lending activity is certainly a cause for concern.
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| China: new loans (source: Bloomberg) |
NYTimes: - Chinese banks made fewer local currency loans in October than expected, while total financing in the economy expanded more slowly than in September, data released Monday showed, suggesting that Beijing might need to do more to ensure that policy is loose enough to promote growth.
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The moderating credit data followed a flurry of factory output, investment and trade statistics last week that signaled that the world’s second-largest economy, after that of the United States, was striding further along the road of recovery and showed that Beijing could not yet relax efforts to lift economic growth from its weakest levels in three years.
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