Global Manufacturing Displays Resilience to Europe’s Debt Crisis: Economy1

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Manufacturing from the U.K. to India showed improvement in December, suggesting production is weathering strains from Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.
Purchasing manager indexes for the U.K., Switzerland, China, India and Australia rose in December, while German unemployment fell more than economists forecast as exports of cars and machinery boomed, reports today showed. U.S. manufacturing growth (NAPMPMI)accelerated more than economists forecast to the fastest pace in six months.
The factory production data indicate some resilience in the industry as European leaders work to flesh out their plan to end the debt turmoil that’s threatening to drag the region back into recession. TheInternational Monetary Fund may cut its 2012 global growth forecast this month after lowering it to 4 percent in September, when it predicted “severe” repercussions if Europe fails to contain its crisis.
“Everyone’s taking comfort from stronger exports to the Far East, but we’re going to see a much weaker first quarter in China,” said Chris Scicluna, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe in London. “It’s a mixed picture. The general trend in the U.S. is one of healing, but it’s hardly a picture of dynamism, and we’re looking at contraction in Europe.”
Asian Rebound
A manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for India released by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics today rose to the highest level in six months in December. In China, manufacturing rebounded last month from a contraction in November, while Australian factory production (AIGPMI) expanded for the first time since June, driven by gains in basic metals, transport and publishing.
Manufacturing in Singapore rose 6.5 percent from a year earlier in the fourth quarter, after climbing a revised 13.4 percent in the previous three months, the Trade Ministry said today.
In Europe, a gauge of Swiss manufacturing rose to 50.7 in December from 44.8 in November when adjusted for seasonal swings, Credit Suisse Group AG in Zurich said in an e-mailed statement today. That’s the first reading above 50, which divides contraction from expansion, since August. A U.K. index (PMITMUK) rose to 49.6 from a revised 47.7 and a measure of new export orders increased for the first time in five months, led by demand from customers inGermany, Eastern Europe and China.