In line with expectations, the Swedish PMI picked up to 52.2 in August from 51.3 in July. Encouragingly, the sub-index for order intakes increased to 54.4 and has now been above the 50-mark since February this year. Companies continue to cut staff according to the report, although the sub-index for employment recovered a bit in August.
All in all, the PMI report suggests that the manufacturing sector is into a gradual recovery. The PMI has been above the growth-mark 50 for four consecutive months, and we expect the PMI as well as industrial production to improve gradually throughout 2013.
Details, August:
PMI: 52.2 (consensus 52.5, prior 51.3)
Order intake: 54.5 (prior 52.1)
Production: 53.9 (prior 56.0)
Employment: 48.2 (prior 44.9)
Inventories: 49.9 (prior 45.3)
Production plans 6 months ahead: 58.5 (prior 55.6)
Nordea