China’s official manufacturing index is expected to hold steady in May at 51.1 according to the median forecast of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. The official survey of purchasing managers at China’s factories has stayed above the 50 mark, which separates expansion in activity from contraction, since February 2020 amid strong demand from overseas. In recent months, however, global semiconductor shortages, international logistics jams and rising delivery costs have weighed on manufacturers’ operations.
Eurozone consumer prices rose at their fastest annual pace in two years in April, though the 1.6% increase was milder than in the U.S., where concerns about inflation are growing. The May reading could show another small gain and the European Central Bank expects inflation to overshoot—if only temporarily—its 2% target later this year as demand picks up while the region’s economy more fully emerges from Covid-19.
