US business activity contracted for a second-straight month in August, falling to the weakest level since May 2020, S&P Global data showed Tuesday. Activity in Asia slumped, and output in the 19-nation euro zone also fell as record energy and food inflation saps demand and more sectors succumb to the darkening outlook.
In Europe, manufacturing drove the drop, but a post-lockdown rebound in services like tourism almost ground to a halt. The UK’s purchasing managers’ index managed to remain above the 50 level that separates expansion from contraction, but recorded an unexpectedly large plunge in factory activity. The data paint a bleak picture for the global economy, with most central banks still focused on taming inflation by raising borrowing costs. And while rate hikes will add to the pain of the downturn, they may not even bring excessive price gains back to where they were before this spike, according to investors including Pacific Investment Management Co.
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