This week’s Market Review – Investors were focused on economic data releases particularly from the US and Europe. In the US, focus was on the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, which slowed on an annual basis to 2.4% in January, down from the December rate of 2.6% and the lowest level since February 2021. In Europe- Preliminary inflation data was released for a number of the larger economies. In Germany, February numbers saw inflation falling to its lowest rate since June 2021, coming in at 2.5% and down from 3.1% in January. Meanwhile in France, preliminary figures for February showed the rate of inflation slowing to 3.1%, down from a rate of 3.4% in January. In Asia-Pacific: Focus was on China and data release from the latest Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), coming in at 49.1 – the fifth straight month of contraction in the manufacturing sector.
