Wednesday, March 3, is going to be yet another busy day in the financial markets. China opened the day with Caixin PMI numbers for February, where both the services and the composite reports were slightly lower than the previous readings.
More PMIs are on the economic calendar today. Spain’s and Italy’s services PMIs were better than the forecasts, while Germany disappointed investors with both the services and the composite PMIs for February. Still, the composite index for the eurozone was better than anticipated.
Italy’s GDP growth rate was in line with investors’ expectations YoY, but quarterly it was slightly higher than the forecast.
At the same time, both the composite and services PMI reports from the United Kingdom were disappointing, failing to meet investors’ expectations. The UK will also publish its budget for 2021 today.
Today there will also be speeches by the European Central Bank, the Bundebank, and the Federal Reserve, including the last one’s beige book. The United States will also publish its non-manufacturing PMI and oil stockpile numbers.
Other encouraging news also came from the United States today. Johnson & Johnson, whose Covid-19 vaccine recently got approved for emergency use in the US, has signed a deal to expand its production output, which will enable it to deliver more doses sooner.
According to the latest estimates and statements by President Biden, the United States should have a vaccine for everybody within the next two to three months. This boosted market hopes of a speedy recovery from the pandemic, just as states are beginning to lift their lockdowns and resume business as usual.
Unsurprisingly, the news gave the US stock market a massive boost. Today all major US stock indices will make gains.
The story is slightly different across the Atlantic. Though Germany is getting ready to remove some Covid-19 restrictions on the economy and social life, other EU member states are observing another spike in coronavirus cases. The European Union has been much slower in providing its citizens with Covid-19 vaccines than the US or the UK.
