The agenda is busy for this start of the 2022 school year. Admittedly, investors, worried about inflation and monetary policy, had kept an eye on the financial markets in August, in particular on the Jackson Hole speech last Friday. In this 1er September, they will dive into the deep end of PMI indices. Before the opening, the operators were thus informed of the figures for the manufacturing sector index, measured by the IHS Markit institute for Caixin : they came out down, at 49.5 against 50.4 in July. They are therefore well below the 50 mark, watched like milk on the fire because it separates the contraction zone from the expansion phase of activity. The cocktail of constraints stemming from the zero-Covid policy, energy restrictions linked to the heat wave and the drought and the depression of the real estate sector have not made it possible to reverse the trend in the Chinese manufacturing sector and are even increasing the risk recession in the country.
The euro zone, too, will stall. This scenario, shared by all economists, should be confirmed on Thursday with the publication, around 10 a.m., of final manufacturing PMI indices for August. S&P Global should reaffirm their anchorage below the 50 threshold, at 49 in France, 49.8 in Germany and 49.7 in the euro zone as a whole. Across the Atlantic, the index Manufacturing ISM, seen as the benchmark, remains, for the time being, in expansion territory. It is expected at 52 for the month of August, but it remains on a downward trend for eighteen months. Three other American indicators will punctuate the afternoon: new jobless claims for the week ended August 27, the second estimate of second quarter productivity and the construction spending in July.
A fine 2021-2022 financial year for Pernod Ricard
On the values front, the world’s second largest spirits group, Pernod Ricard, will unveil the results of its staggered 2021-2022 fiscal year, which ended in June. Management did not give a revenue forecast, but it should show robust growth, given the first nine months which ended with a 21% increase in sales, to 8.4 billion euros. . On the profitability side, Pernod Ricard plans to improve its current operating profit by around 17% compared to the 2.4 billion for 2020-2021. Another value to follow: Steve. The temperature-controlled transporter-logistician will present its results for the first half of the year.